ABSTRACT

Celebrities are used frequently in advertising because people know about them and often want to imitate their behavior. A French scholar, René Girard, has a theory he calls “mimetic desire” that argues people want to imitate (“mimesis” means “imitation”) the desire of movie stars and other celebrities, which leads to people purchasing products the celebrities buy, supposedly use—and sell in commercials and in print advertisements. Many people identify with celebrities and want to imitate them.