Culinary culture, gastrobrands and identity myths: 'Nigella', an iconic brand in the baking

In his perceptive and persuasive rendering of the nature of consumer society and its obsession with fame and celebrity, McCracken (2005) states that 'the celebrity world is one of the most potent sources of cultural meaning at the disposal of the marketing system and the individual consumer'(ibid, 113). Indeed, as Pringle (2004) so bluntly puts it, 'celebrity sells'. While both authors transport us back to the 1960s and McLuhan's powerful analysis ofthe 'transforming power of media' (1964, 20), Pringle offers a managerial take on the growing complexity of the media environment, where media fragmentation, global reach and the explosion of celebrity culture go hand in hand. Olsen (1999) trenchantly observes that by virtue of the global distribution of its manufactured media product, the US Film and TV media industry is effectively assembling a 'Hollywood Planet'. Pringle takes the view that 'the celebrity phenomenon has largely been created by [US] movies and television [although] there is no doubt that other media have play[ed] a significant part' (ibid, 10).