Scam prominence now depends on media ubiquity, not audacity

Evidence

These scams took on such cultural relevance not from their particular audacity but from their ubiquity in modern media. Streaming platforms, podcasts, and nonfiction books needed a constant stream of true crime, while shows like Shark Tank blurred the line between business and pop culture. Sorokin’s arrest spawned a friend’s memoir (My Friend Anna), a Netflix show (Inventing Anna), and episodes about her on American Greed and Generational Hustle. While in prison, Sorokin signed a deal with The Real World and The Simple Life producer Bunim Murray Productions to star in a reality show. Then, on parole, she launched her own podcast and appeared on season 33 of Dancing with the Stars. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 574

Categorization

• XREF: Media-driven fame as a commodity fits the omnivore monoculture frame — celebrity as flattened universal consumption regardless of moral content. — connects to: Publicity has become its own commodity rather than an image of commodities — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 303