2007 in Review
In addition to the announcement that Kate Moss was the “most e-Bayed” celebrity of 2007, FashionWatch.com reported that the Wall Street Journal awarded Dove 2007’s “Best Advertising Campaign” award for its “Eye of the Beholder” video. The online clip shows an average woman’s transformation into a billboard supermodel with the help of a team of makeup artists and hairstylists, bright lights, and elaborate post-production touch-ups. At the end of the clip, a caption reads, “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.” According to the Wall Street Journal, the clip cost $150,000 USD to produce and was viewed by over 24 million people after being posted on YouTube.
And what better way to ring in the new year than by being paid to attend a party? Alas, this isn’t the case for most of us, but as L.A. Times staffer Monica Corcoran pointed out in her blog All the Rage, celebrities, musicians, and socialites such as the Hilton and the Simpson sisters demand nothing less. Corcoran reported that this year, Paris and Nicky Hilton were to be paid $500,000 USD to “party” (read stand around and look pretty) at Las Vegas’s LAX club, while Ashlee Simpson and her boyfriend Pete Wentz were promised $150,000 to host a party at Miami’s Shore Club. And don’t forget good ol’ Pam Anderson, who, according to Corcoran, was set to pocket over $100,000 for appearing at Pure nightclub in Vegas’s Caesar Palace — though compared to last year’s guest, Britney Spears, who pulled in $350,000, Anderson’s fee is… well… peanuts.
In Memory Of
On December 27, 2007, former CEO at Condé Nast Publications Inc. Steve Florio passed away due to complications from a heart attack. According to the New York Times, the 58 year old, credited with growing the media conglomerate into the second largest magazine publisher in the United States, joined the company in the early 1980s and resigned from his position as CEO in January 2004, but remained devoted to the company as vice chairman until last January. Florio was known for “outsized rhetoric and a personality to match,” as well as for expanding Condé Nast by concentrating on magazines aimed at wealthy consumers of luxury goods and by focusing on selling advertising in these publications. As president and CEO, Florio oversaw all 16 of the company’s magazines, which then included Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Architectural Digest, and Bon Appétit. Florio is survived by his wife of 33 years, with whom he has a son and daughter, as well as by his mother and two brothers, one of whom is the publisher of Vogue.
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