We bemoan the fact that Katie Price can't leave her face alone - but neither can we
A rant about click bait...
I’m all for a well-crafted headline. Something that grabs your attention and compels you to read on. What I can’t stand, however, is clickbait that lures you in by suggesting the very opposite of what the publisher knows the majority will think when they’ve read the article. The aim? Clicks (naturally) - and a torrent of comments that will no doubt be abusive and almost tribal in nature and which, I can only imagine, are not considered the responsibility of the media outlet because they didn’t write them.
Do I click on them? Look - I’m no angel. I have a very unhealthy and unwanted appetite for diving into comments sections to see just how painful it is. But I think that’s the point. The posters know there are those of us who simply can’t keep away - whether that be to attack or defend, depending on the topic. And the ensuing chaos is like something out of The Last of Us - which I guess makes the parts of the media that do this like…a fungus. A fungus that can control how we behave - and predicts it with accuracy.
You have to wonder how these posts are created. Are there people sitting around a virtual table in a virtual room saying, OK, how will we get our clicks today? And someone else says: I’ve just been sent a terribly unflattering picture of Katie Price - let’s put that out there with a headline of how great she looks and everyone will disagree and rip her to shreds. Brilliant.
That’s exactly what I’ve just seen. And it’s absolutely horrific.
The headline (from the Daily Mail) reads: “Katie Price looks better than ever as she takes her new puppy for a walk.” It was posted 20 hours ago and has already amassed more than 5k comments. I’m not going to share a screen grab or link, because it’s just cruel. And one thing that, sadly, doesn’t surprise me, is the fact that there are many men and women tearing her appearance apart. Us women who, when we see another woman we know, fuss over how wonderful she looks - and how gorgeous her new hair colour is - even if we don’t truly believe that said colour really does suit her because, at the end of the day, we don’t want to upset her. And taste is subjective. Mine is certainly not shared with everyone. I’m a marmite girl.
And yet, sitting behind a keyboard, we can ferociously, compulsively and relentlessly tear actual real human beings apart for their looks in a kind of mob state of hateful bullying. I mean, that’s what it is, surely? It’s vicious bullying.
Katie Price’s face - and body - has been the subject of much debate. She’s a controversial public figure and her looks have, obviously, played a huge part in her career. So it’s fair game, right?
We criticise her for all the plastic surgery she’s had - yet we continually shame and criticise her looks, too.
It’s the same with other female celebrities. Madonna, for example, who often elicits comments such as OMG she’s too old to keep doing that alongside OMG why does she keep having plastic surgery? Yeah, I mean, we should all wear cardies and hide away in a remote part of the world pretending we don’t exist and we’ve nothing to offer society when we hit 60 - right?
Undeniably beautiful, Pamela Anderson is apparently ‘ageing like milk’ just because she refuses to wear make up, while Aimee Lou Wood ‘deserves’ to be made fun of because she ‘chose not to fix her natural smile. It’s her choice.’
But it’s not their choice to be bullied and ridiculed. It’s the media’s choice.
The media chooses what to put out there in the name of ‘news’ to garner clicks, engagement and money. And we respond like zombies ripping the flesh from the unfortunate subject and devouring them piece by piece until we spit out someone who is so broken they feel they have to change their looks - and then we rip them to shreds for that, too.
Damned if you do…
But we do have a choice not to respond in the way the media predicts we will.
I don’t really know how I feel about Katie Price - I’ve never met her and I admit I have sometimes had instant and emotive negative reactions to some of the headlines about her. We can’t help ourselves when they’re served up to us (even though we never ordered them - thanks algorithm, I’m not sure why you think I want to read the Mail’s headlines? Is it because, IDK, perhaps you want to stoke the FIGHT in your comments by reaching the very people who won’t like what you’re saying?).
But we don’t have to hit the keyboard and join in with the growing zombie fungus that exists to strangle any hint of humanity, surely?
We can choose not to be a part of it.
I’m no saint. I’ve been guilty of harsh comments. And I’ve received harsh comments about my appearance on social media before, too. But I just think we should take a moment to think about what we’re adding to the conversation and who benefits before we post. Because it’s not the celebrity in the headline who benefits - and it’s certainly not us.
We’re simply generating more money for the media, and reinforcing the toxic and unrealistic societal expectations that we - and our sons and daughters - have to exist within.