Fake amateur authenticity proved profitable and launched careers

Evidence

Perez Hilton was not the only wildly popular fictive persona made possible by the anonymity of the web. In 2006 the best-known face on YouTube was Lonelygirl15, a cute but awkward teenage girl whose first video was entitled “First Blog / Dorkiness Prevails.” Speaking to the camera, her chin on one raised knee, she plaintively intones, “Hi guys…this is my video blog…um….I’m such a dork…” It was only later revealed that Lonelygirl15 was in fact a paid actress. Her show was scripted, based on her producers’ guess of what an amateur video blogger might look like. Their success in getting the right effect would lead to more business for the production company EQAL, which, having proved it could aggregate a boatload of attention, would be commissioned to produce more content, including an original web series for CBS. As for Jessica Rose, the actress hired for the hoax, she would be cast in a web TV series called Sorority Forever, as well as the cable series Greek. An Anaheim Ducks fan, she would also begin blogging for the National Hockey League. Every bit of attention helps. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 964

Categorization

• XREF: Lonelygirl15 is a landmark case of manufactured authenticity that connects to contemporary influencer-fraud and deepfake content debates. — connects to: Fake authenticity backstories exploit the internet’s democratizing promise; Self-branding exercises frame profit-seeking as the discovery of an authentic self. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 496; Fraudsters recast lying as bold innovation and define good people by results (+1 more)
• CANDY: The Lonelygirl15 hoax — a scripted fake amateur — is a light, fun fact that still surprises people.

Broader Connections

• Fake authenticity backstories exploit the internet’s democratizing promise #expands (0.85)
• Self-branding exercises frame profit-seeking as the discovery of an authentic self. #expands (0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 496
• A deliberately fictitious brand acquired real economic value through sheer recognition. #corroborates (0.80) — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 370
• Fraudsters recast lying as bold innovation and define good people by results #expands (0.75)