The Disposable Celebrity
Everyday, a new “it girl” appears. Yet, over the years, how many of them have truly lasted? Social media has revolutionized the way we consume fame, offering a catapult to instantaneous stardom with a viral moment. Unlike the 2000’s iconic actresses who gained status through years of hard work, today’s influencers often rise overnight—only to be forgotten just as quickly. And now, fame has become more transient than ever, with attention spans shifting from one trend to the next in the blink of an eye.
Throughout pop culture history, the world has seen countless “it girls” experience dazzling moments in the spotlight. Consider the 1920’s; Clara Bow saw her career wane as audiences quickly found the next rising star (Toulane, 2024). Or the early 2000s, with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who were once media darlings, but eventually faded from the limelight (Samotin, 2024). With their faces once plastered across tabloids, billboards, and ads, they have now become nostalgic antiques of a bygone era. Though this pattern of being forgotten isn’t new, what has changed is the speed of this cycle, with social media compressing years of fame into just months.
Take the life of supermodel Kate Moss. Rising to prominence in the 1990s and 2000s as the face of the “heroin chic” aesthetic, she became a cultural icon, landing high profile modeling contracts, gracing the covers of top magazines, appearing in luxury brand campaigns and runways. However, after her drug use scandal in September 2005, her endorsements swiftly vanished and her career stalled. Still, she was able to resume her success after the drug charges against her were dropped months later (Vernon, 2006). Nonetheless, this was only possible because, at the time, without the swift power of social media to quickly promote a new “it girl” to replace Moss, she had the space and time to rebuild her public image.
Today, the pace of fame consumption has drastically changed. With the efficiency of social media, we consume celebrity culture at an unprecedented rate. Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok influencers, for example, can amass millions of followers in days, only to find their relevance diminishing when the next “big thing” arrives. Think of Lil Tay, the child influencer that rose to fame due to her controversial persona in 2018. Or Avani Gregg, once one of Tiktok’s biggest stars with 42 million followers, now fighting to maintain engagement, with her likes and views a fraction of what they once were. Unlike traditional celebrities who had studios, PR teams, and labels to sustain their relevance, influencers often rely on their unpredictable online audience.
When an “it girl” no longer serves their entertainment value, they are simply discarded. This isn’t always due to a controversy or scandal—people simply just lose interest. The same system that elevates someone overnight also ensures their impermanence, driven by people’s appetite for something new and fresh.
Back in 2018, the internet was captivated by a nine-year old influencer, Lil Tay, who rose to fame with her outlandish persona as the “youngest flexer of the century”. Flaunting luxury cars, designer clothes, and mansions, she amassed millions of followers within the span of a few months. Yet, as quickly as she rose, she faded from public attention, due to waning interest in her content and competition with other content creators such as Team 10. Years later, in 2023, when rumors of her passing started to spread, the internet momentarily remembered her, only for the fame to dissipate once this misinformation was corrected (Adler, 2023). Her brief resurgence emphasizes the transient nature of digital stardom, where even the most viral influencers are forgotten.
Another example would be Avani Gregg, a 2020 Tik Tok star known for her clown makeup lip syncing videos. At the time, her uniqueness set her apart from the crowd, making her one of the most recognizable faces on the platform. Her TikTok’s had millions of views, she secured sponsorships, magazine covers, and various brand deals. Yet, as the years went by, other influencers oversaturated her concept, and the demand for her content declined, leading to her irrelevance over the course of months. For a few years after her initial rise, her videos still maintained a decent following, but the virality that had once defined her presence faded. Despite this, with the recent threat of the TikTok ban, she gained her fame back for a brief moment as she began posting old TikTok drafts. However, this resurgence was short lived—once the wave of curiosity passed, her name quickly slipped back into obscurity.
This raises a larger question: What does it say about us as a culture? Do we ever stop to consider what happens to those left behind in the wake of internet fame? Perhaps the conversation isn’t about who rises to the top next, but about how disposable celebrities have become in the digital age. In the era where yesterday’s icon becomes today’s forgotten name, the obsession with constant novelty reduces individuals to mere commodities, valued until the next “big thing” arrives. It’s not only about the loss of their public relevance, but the impact on their mental and emotional wellbeing. With fame being so dependent on the interests of a digital audience, individuals often face pressure in sustaining an artificial persona. What was once used as a platform for free expression now becomes just another commodity.
This shift in the way we consume fame reflects a larger societal change. In a digital landscape where everyone is constantly striving to capture attention, we fail to recognize the transient nature of modern stardom, and the deeper consequences of reducing individuals to small moments of virality. As we move further into the digital era, we must reconsider how we engage with those who momentarily capture our attention.