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Star Power Wanes for Leading Men

May 14, 2017 by Robert Marich Leave a Comment

Movie audiences used to revere male movie stars as god-like, but today’s movie stars have meltdowns in public, showing clay feet that pierces their aura. This relates to movie marketing because star-power is diminishing as a draw, and it’s no surprise why.

Brad Pitt Pitchman
Brad Pitt wants you to smell good with Chanel No. 5.

“It’s curious to see so many male megastars — so good-looking, wealthy, undeniably privileged — unravel so transparently,” writes Maureen Callahan in a New York Post feature/analysis article.

Brad Pitt gives post-divorce interviews admitting he drank too much, Johnny Depp is going broke despite movie paydays in the tens of millions of dollars lawsuits reveal, and Ben Affleck is photographed disheveled after walking out on his wife. The NY Post article is subtitled “2017 is the year of the incredible collapsing Hollywood hunk.”

“Maybe, in each of these cases, it’s a byproduct of living in the bubble for so long,” writes Callahan. They “came to fame in the ’90s, when the Internet was in its infancy, and the mechanisms of fame and control of one’s narrative have shifted wildly. Post-Oprah, we’re a permanently confessional culture, and the quickest route to celebrity redemption remains the ostensible tell-all.”

So it’s no surprise leading men with clay feet can carry films like they used to, because audiences are no longer in awe.

Related content:

  • The Year of the Incredible Collapsing Hollywood Hulk

Filed Under: publicity, talent Tagged With: bombs, branding, controversy

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