Influencer conglomerates conceal corporate diversification within a personal identity

Evidence

There are precedents to these vertically integrated “people”—Oprah Winfrey or Martha Stewart, for instance, to name two of the earliest examples of branded individuals, whose personal identities and names gave coherence to large conglomerations of consumer goods and products sold through the lure of the individual. Yet nobody truly believes Oprah’s conglomerate, Harpo Inc., to be self-identical with her as a person. The same goes for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which continued operations even with Stewart in prison. But, as we will return to later in this book, Star is often presumed to “be” his brand. When it comes to the conglomerated individuals of influencer culture, corporate diversification and integration are concealed, bound together with the personal identity of the individual we see onscreen. Fans are often more likely to believe that these individuals are faking their wealth than they are to believe those they watch are truly “different” from any other precarious, struggling influencer. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 30

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s Corpocene thesis: the influencer completes the circuit by letting a person be presumed identical with their brand, unlike Oprah/Martha whose companies were understood as separate.
• DEFINE: Defines the distinguishing feature of the corporealized individual: concealment of corporate integration within a personal screen identity.