We’ve all had a “celebrity crush”, and “Celebrity Worship, Materialism, Compulsive Buying, and the Empty Self” reveals what can happen when that “crush” turns into an obsession.
Celebrity worship is associated with “The Empty Self Theory.” a theory that suggests that someone with an empty self “is plagued by a loss of a shared sense of community and meaning… depression, low self-esteem, and poor relationships with others.”
Research suggests that a high level of celebrity worship is directly related to low levels of self-esteem. An investigation of the relationship among compulsive buying, life satisfaction/self esteem, and celebrity worship, revealed a negative correlation between compulsive buying and life satisfaction and a positive correlation between compulsive buying and celebrity worship. In other words, compulsive buying is directly related to both low life satisfaction and high celebrity worship.
The first finding is far from revolutionary. However, the direct link between compulsive buying and celebrity worship and the indirect link to low life satisfaction are meaningful additions to current understanding. These findings highlight one of the dangers of fashion blogs. Viewers with low life satisfaction and high levels of celebrity worship will be drawn to the blog’s figurehead and motivated to purchase the merchandise displayed because of the high correlation between celebrity worship and compulsive shopping.
Carrie Rattle is a Principal at BehavioralCents.com, a website for women focused on mind and money behaviors. She has worked in the financial services industry for 20+ years and hopes to inspire women to better prepare themselves for financial independence.