Rowena Lam's Blog

Our fellow classmate, Elaine Poon, expressed her opinions on Lady Gaga as an example of social influence in her blog post. I totally agree with Elaine that Lady Gaga as a performance artist, “there is nothing she will put on her body without knowing the concept and reference behind it.” This is so true because Lady Gaga will definitely want everything that associated with her to help her establishing an appealing “brand image”, so as to retain or even attract more people to join her fan base. Elaine also called attention to the effective marketing effort that has brought her to fame – pop icon references, shocking outfit, and unpredictable performances. She does not merely deliver what audience normally would expect from a performance artist – beauty or singing skills – but also communicate “the concept of outrageous and bizarre” through her innovative performances. Her fame proves that her strategy of differentiation is working very well.

Lady Gaga’s raw meat dress

But really? Well, I would never deny that her strategy is very effective in terms of increasing the size of her fan base or at least getting people over the globe to know about her. However, I think her outrageous costumes might go too far, which has subtly provoked a negative social influence: “A desperate Lady Gaga fan has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly killing her cat and using the dead pet’s blood to complete an outfit she planned to wear to one of her heroine’s concerts.” (WENN.COM)

Outrageous costume Lady Gaga wore at the 2009 MTV awards (Ninemsn)

Lady Gaga the pop icon – Do you find her aspirational or dissociative?