Thesis

"Consuming Kate" : unpacking royal celebrity

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2013
Thesis identifier
  • T13412
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Within CCT, past celebrity studies have 'unpacked' the celebrity brands of famous sports stars (Cashmore and Parker, 2003: Cashmore, 2006), music icons (Peñaloza, 2004: Hamilton and Hewer, 2010), artists (Schroeder, 2006: Kerrigan et al, 2011) and celebrity chefs (Brownlie and Hewer, 2007: 2011; Hewer and Brownlie, 2009); whilst Royal Celebrity studies have focused on the BRFB in its entirety (Otnes and Maclaren, 2007; Otnes et al, 2010). In response to Hewer and Brownlie's (2009) ask for more studies that contribute to our nascent understandings of Consumer Culture Celebrity Theory (CCCT) from, as Turner (2004) and Hamilton and Hewer (2010) suggest, beneath an axiological approach, this study seeks to 'unpack' the social and cultural influence of the Royal Celebrity of a single member of the BRF - HRH Catherine Middleton the Duchess of Cambridge. This thesis introduces a relatively new methodology to CCT, by conducting an interpretive content analysis (Ahuvia, 2000; Krippendorf, 2004; Mulvey and Stern, 2004) of the articles, images and text within a revolutionary, contemporary, popular women's monthly lifestyle magazine - Cosmopolitan UK. From March 2011-July 2012, 35 articles and 56 images of the Duchess of Cambridge are examined. This time frame incorporates the social, cultural, political and historical significance of the hype before Catherine and Williams fairy-tale wedding (April 2011), as well as Catherine's media portrayal in the lead up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (June 2012) and the London 2012 Olympics (July 2012).
Resource Type
DOI
Date Created
  • 2013
Former identifier
  • 989817

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