ATS1060 Celebrities, Influencers and Promotion

How ATS1060 is assessed

Current task-level Moodle statements and the official 2026 Handbook total 100%. Conflicting outer accordion labels are not used.

What ATS1060 covers

The path runs from Stardom, Celebrity and Promotional Culture through Hollywood Star System and Historical Change to Celebrity AI, Synthetic Persona and Critical Case Analysis.

Celebrities, Influencers and Promotion is a Monash undergraduate unit worth 6 credit points, offered in Semester 2, 2026, examining stardom, persona, publicity, platforms, branding and synthetic celebrity.

Celebrity is treated as a relation among persona, industry, media circulation and audience attention.

Talent or notoriety may contribute, but analysis asks how public recognisability is organised, interpreted and converted into cultural or economic value.

Stardom provides a historically specific formation. Screen roles, contracts, publicity, fan media and performance conventions create a changing star image.

Contradiction across those sites can make a star more discussable and commercially flexible rather than simply revealing inconsistency.

Persona refers to a mediated public identity across situations and platforms. It is neither pure fiction nor transparent access to the private person.

Close analysis should identify performance and textual signs, then connect them to production, publicity and audience interpretation.

Publicity and celebrity journalism co-produce relevance through access, events, images, narratives and verification. Promotional origin does not automatically make a statement false, while journalistic packaging does not guarantee independence.

Source, access condition and selection remain evidence questions.

Historical comparison locates star making within labour, ownership, distribution and technology. Classical studios coordinated contracts, roles and publicity; contemporary performers may own production while depending on agencies, platforms and audience data.

Comparison should preserve those institutional differences.

Microcelebrity describes practices of strategic intimacy, self-branding and audience maintenance, not merely a small follower count.

Influencer culture makes relational, emotional and analytic labour continuous, while platform ranking and monetisation rules distribute visibility and risk unevenly.

Brand collaboration transfers meaning between persona and product. Fit depends on existing image, audience expectations and the claim being made.

Clear sponsorship disclosure is necessary, but it does not verify product truth, supply-chain responsibility or ethical acceptability.

Promotional visibility creates risk as well as reach. Contradictions, stakeholder scrutiny and misinformation can circulate through the same networks that create value.

Crisis response should be studied as an attempt to repair persona and relationships, not only reputation score.

Celebrity AI makes the production chain more visible and more complicated. Data, models, performers, writers, owners, brands and audiences may contribute to one synthetic persona.

Consent, likeness, labour, attribution, revenue, correction and afterlife require separate analysis.

The current assessment structure totals 100%: weekly Moodle practical worksheets contribute 10%; the Screen Stars Dictionary video essay and exegesis 35%; the celebrity case study 45%; and tutorial preparation and participation 10%.

Task-level Moodle evidence and the official 2026 Handbook support this split.

The weekly work develops close concept application. The video essay and exegesis require audiovisual argument plus scholarly explanation.

The larger case study integrates media evidence, industry context and theory, while participation supports comparative discussion and feedback.

Conflicting outer accordion labels were not used to invent a different assessment map. Current task pages and official category totals control the guide.

Students should verify exact deadlines, media specifications, citation rules, collaboration, use of AI and approved adjustments in the live Monash site.

All supplied cases are original. They do not reproduce current worksheet, video or case-study questions.

Publicly discussed examples may be used to teach analytical mechanisms, but any claim about a living person, contract or current regulation should be tied to responsible current evidence.

A repeatable analysis route is media text or persona → industry or platform → promotional circulation → audience or labour consequence → bounded critical claim.

Each arrow requires evidence; opinion about whether the celebrity is good, real or likeable is not a substitute.

Study through intertextual comparison. Put two texts, periods or platforms beside each other, name the concept that explains the relationship and state what changes. The method turns theory into a tool and prevents biography from taking over the argument.

Turn one influencer post into a critical case

Key terms

celebrity

Public visibility organised around a recognisable persona and circulated through media, industries and audience attention.

stardom

A historically specific system that turns performers into marketable images across texts, publicity and labour.

promotional culture

A social environment in which identities, institutions and everyday communication are increasingly organised through publicity and branding.

persona

A mediated public identity performed and interpreted across platforms, genres and social situations.

star image

The changing constellation of meanings produced across screen roles, publicity, criticism and audience discourse.

performance

Embodied and mediated choices through which voice, gesture, appearance and action produce meaning.

publicity

Strategic generation and circulation of attention through media events, materials, access and claims.

public relations

Managed relationships and communication between a person or organisation and relevant publics.

celebrity journalism

Reporting and commentary that produce celebrity news through access, narrative, image and public-interest claims.

star system

Industrial practices for discovering, training, contracting, publicising and monetising performers as stars.

ATS1060 FAQ

How to prepare for the assessments

Use text/persona → industry/platform → promotion → audience/labour → bounded claim, then compare a second text, period or platform.

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