Catsplaining: Are Cats Fame Whores?
Catsplaining: Are Cats Fame Whores? Let me give it to you straight from the cat’s mouth. From me, Merlin, a cat and this is Mondays With Merlin (tongue-in-cheek edition but real secrets spilled).
And break out the catnip. We just posted our 1500th post! Happy Columbus Day and Canadian Thanksgiving. Layla and I are ex-pat Canadians and this year feel extra grateful. In the spirit of giving, I’ll be sharing some insights about Instagram you may not know about. I hope it puts the social media madness into perspective.
So, cats being media whores. You might think so given the sheer number of famous cats or cats with high numbers of followers. Besides the Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub, there are hundreds if not thousands of cats with high 5, 6 and 7 figure Instagram accounts. New ones crop up every day showing off their selfies and adventures of every stripe.
It can be a heady moment for a cat mom or dad suddenly see thousands of likes for one of their cat’s photos. Its easy to want more and more. A normally well-adjusted person suddenly hears the clarion call of their inner fame whore. Hello. Maybe their cat has the secret sauce to be the next viral video star or get endorsement deals. It does happen. Many do make money as influencers but most do not. I hear all kinds of stories from my mom, Layla who has consulted with cats famous and not so famous for years. It’s a strange case of the shoemaker’s children having no shoes or in this case, small Instagram numbers. Why?
I have a news bulletin for you dear cat lover. The cat is out of the bag.
Cats have zero interest in money or fame. I certainly don’t. Have you ever seen a cat carry a wallet? Pull out a twenty to pay for their cat food? Hire an agent or an accountant? That’s what their humans servants are for. I’ll admit there are some cats who don’t mind posing for the camera. Bast knows I’ve enjoyed my minor flirtation with fame and admit to a vain streak in my youth. While most cats can be bribed with treats, we know when we are unwitting pawns in the feline fame game.
Yes, dear ones, the fame whores are human and not feline. Ouch. Sorry.
Stalking the Human Fame Whore (H.F.W.) in the wild.
They are easy to spot. The have multiple digital devices, cameras, selfies sticks within arm’s length 24/7/. They stalk their cats mercilessly with cameras DAILY with no respect to privacy or boundaries. Meal time, nap time, potty time. No time is sacred. Flashes flash. Toys are dangled not for sensory enrichment but photo ops. Kitchen cupboards are stuffed with 390 varieties of cat treats. Photos with stink-eye, the back of shame and airplane ears figure prominently. We all know the look of “WTF Human!” when cats glare at the camera wearing a costume they detest but the H.F.W. thinks it’s funny. Their cat making a mockery of us for fun, fame or profit. Band-aids are a commonly seen accessory hiding scratch marks of incorrect play and boundary violation.
The H.F.W. comes in all sizes, genders and ages but are likely to wear t-shirts with cat graphics or logo of their Instagram cat. The humans post cat photos and videos several times a day. Good morning. Goodnight. Good grief. Trust me, there is no cat that interesting but somebody does because they get thousands of likes. In a Pavlovian response the H.F.W. repeats the click, edit, hashtags, share, comment, share cycle and the behavior is reinforced.
The really famous ones don’t post as often because they don’t have to work the Instagram or other algorithms. The really ambitious ones post photos, Instagram stories, videos with their cat(s) with the regularity of a Swiss watch because they are building a brand. This is a fancy word for a business that they or their feline are the face of. The cats just happen to be the vehicle for their ego. It doesn’t have to be a cat. It could be any cute, weird or exotic animal. It’s about making money, getting attention or both. Perhaps they weren’t loved and validated enough as children but there is something missing.
You can spot those driven types by their carefully curated Instagram feed. Everything fits and flows as you scroll down their pretty grids with filters. This is not an accident. Everything is planned and automated with a posting schedule not unlike a magazine having an editorial calendar. They have social media strategies, have managers and P.R. consultants. There are no bad hair days. Those days are artfully cropped or edited. The reason these cats are cuteness catnip and turn the rest of us chartreuse with envy is by design. It’s called aspirational marketing. Making us want they have. You won’t see dirty cat litter pans or dust bunnies under the bed. Just nicely composed shots with good lighting in attractive settings indoors or out. And no, they aren’t taken with cell phones but DSLR cameras, usually.
It’s the reason we live in a celebrity obsessed world where one Kardashian photo can can rack up a million views on Instagram or ditto a cute cat video. We love posting our original content for better or worse and rarely regram videos but did today from @catloversclub to make a point. They have almost a million followers and only share other people’s content. It’s a lazy way to grow numbers but it works and who can resist a funny video of cat squeezing inside a glass bowl for fun? There better be mega treats for learning that trick. The trick is the person who shares the photo or video legitimately with an app, like we did does not benefit us. The link love goes back to the source. The video at the time of this post had @170,000 views in a week. Check it out We’ll be lucky to get 70. And we’ll go back to honest and original content because we enjoy it and don’t care about posting at optimum times. In fact, we do the opposite, even though we know the tricks. *sigh*. It’s just too much work!
Before you think this is celebrity cat trap is a Machiavellian nightmare for cats, rest assured there are lovely exceptions.
There are the cause driven types who want to make a difference or actual shelters (love!).There are genuine cat lovers who only do occasional shoots or the professionals who care, never overwork, stage manage or art direct their cats to death. They respect their moods and let the cat call the shots. The cats look happy and in charge, as it should be. So the next time you’re busy liking pics on Facebook or Instagram, ponder a moment to consider: does this “funny” cat photo look like an unhappy or exploited cat. If so, don’t like or share it.
And while we’re at it, cats don’t care about fancy titles like king or queen or being made director, partner, vice-president, president or leader of any club. Cats are naturally regal but don’t need to wear a crown or any other accessory. That’s enough pontificating for one day. I know I’m preaching to the proverbial meow meow choir. Our readers know better and are too wise to be a fame whore.
What I know for sure is that I was and always will be king, grand poobah emperor at-large. I don’t need no stinking crown but as you can see, indulged the human for this shot. She thought it might amuse or distract me while I was in a bad way. My dear fursib, Coco had died a few weeks earlier and I was in a deep funk. Cats do grieve you know, and we’d been inseparable for 16 years. The silliness and laughter may have helped our moods that day, but what really made a difference was the extra love and attention. Plus Layla is a master of the five minute photo shoot. It’s all about respect.
Nothing material, no money, fame or illusion of power can make up for true happiness, ever.
Hold on to what really counts and hug your cat (if you are lucky enough to have one) a little longer today and enjoy the moment without clicking a pic. Be in the meow.
Love,
Merlin
33 Comments
Basil
Concats and 1500 posts, that is truly pawesome!!
Great post, and fur the record, I Bionic Basil would LOVE a movie deal!!! MOL MOL 😀
But seriously, great post we really enjoyed what you had to say 🙂
Purrs
Basil & Co xox
Layla Morgan Wilde
Thanks for your good wishes and all best for a movie deal 😉 Anything is possible. xoxo
meowmeowmans
A great post, Merlin! I love taking photos of our cats, and of the cats at the shelter, and am happy if that content helps raise awareness and drive adoptions. 🙂
Congrats on 1500 posts (WOW)!
Layla Morgan Wilde
You guys take cat photos for all the right reasons and many thanks xoxo
Ellen Pilch
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! And congratulations on 1500 posts! I do love to see kitties on the internet, I will skip the Kardashians though.
Layla Morgan Wilde
Thanks a bunch!
Cathy Keisha
Me-OW! Glad I’m not on IG. I wanna be a media whore but TW is too protective of me.
Layla Morgan Wilde
CK, it’s lucky your mom has good sense 😉
Caren Gittleman
Well…I am sooooooooo bad about using Instagram that Cody has NOTHING to worry about!! lol! Seriously great post! Concats on 1500, we’re just a little bit ahead of you, but not much!
Cynthia
Really excellent post. I struggle with the fact that I am not doing enough with social media – but then – I want to be respectful to my cats and to humans. It’s certainly a fine line. Getting famous is definitely a goal – that way I can help more cats. But, I want to do it in a creative, thoughtful, story driven, and rescue minded manner. It’s frustrating when you know the easiest way to get known is to turn your cat into a Kardashian kat. Thanks for putting this so eloquently!
I am so sorry to hear you lost your Coco. Sending my love…
Layla Morgan Wilde
If everyone was as thoughtful as you, we’d have no media whores 🙂 Thanks for mentioning Coco. That was an old photo from 5 years ago but she is always in our hearts.
Layla Morgan Wilde
Thanks dear Easy. I love Cat Stevens. Did you know he’s finally doing a concert again? And I love his lyric “I don’t wanna live in a palace… there is too much emptiness…” xoxox
ellen
I think the instagram and snapchat are a passing fad. I hope so anyway. I really don’t get how someone can have a ‘life’ and post so many pictures or drivel, but then again too, devices bore me now.
You know some of the most ‘interesting’ cats I have met and followed over the years have been cats like you Merlin. One who’s human companions have both a brain and heart. One who doesnt overshare necessarily but has something to ponder or to learn from.
Recently I saw one of these same folk tweeting… she hadnt tweeted for maybe a year. Her FB account for her cat is gone , But I remember her cat and what I learned.
Being famous isnt a big deal, life really comes down to enjoying as you say the ‘meow’ and if youre living through a lens you really arent seeing the world just bits and pieces.
Love ‘seeing’ ya on Mondays Merlin, as always you make me ponder and in doing so learn. You ARE the cats meow,pardon the typing Spyder is insisting on sitting on my shoulder I have been outside most of the day and he feels he should shower me with the cat hair I lost in the wind!
Layla Morgan Wilde
Ellen, many thanks and purrs to you. I love your last sentence and may you always be showered in cat hair xoxox
Flynn
I do agree with you. I like to take photos of Flynn, but they are first and foremost for me to keep with all my memories when he is no longer here. The better photos I like to share to our blog. When he was younger he used to love to pose for the camera, but now he often turns away even though I never use the flash. Eric never liked having his photo taken and the majority were done with the zoom.
Layla Morgan Wilde
Your photos of Eric are always a joy and the opposite of what I’m referring to. That’s interesting about Flynn deciding to avoid the camera. Lots of love to all of you x0x0
Summer
You are right about the fame thing – it’s on the humans. But I do want my message to get around, that cats are healers and capable of doing more than most humans believe. So I am grateful for every new follower on my blog or social media.
P.S. Concatulations on 1500 posts!
Layla Morgan Wilde
Thanks so much for your congrats. You are a messenger of a positive kind like me.
The Swiss Cats
We play the game of social media at our own rhythm, we know we don’t follow the success rules, but we keep the fun alive, and we keep our soul. Purrs
Connie Marie
I don’t even have an Instagram account! Those poor cats and kittens terrorized by flashes! Me and mine, we cuddle up and they chase balls and fake mice, it’s better than TV!
Layla Morgan Wilde
That’s exactly right: to follow at your own rhythm to keep your soul xoxoxo
Layla Morgan Wilde
Yes, much better than TV xoxo
skeeter and Izzy
Exploitation of any one for any reason turns our stomach. We are not the big social media types anyway. We see way too many reports about animals being hurt, destroyed or killed because some dip sh#t wants a selfie with the animal.
I’m sorry but some of us are the stupidest animals on the entire planet.
Sorry for the cuss word, but sometimes it just fits.
We do love the people that share their pets in a sensible, kind, respectful, caring way.
MOL, I found out that my computer woes were cat induced. I finally had time to check everything out and lo and behold one of my sure protector switches had been cut off and one power supply cord had been unplugged. Luv my “kids”
Luvs
Skeeter and Izzy and the Feral Gang + Twig & Peanut & Romeo & the Angels >^..^^..^<~
Layla Morgan Wilde
Exploitation of sentient beings who don’t have a voice only happens by humans. We share your belief xoxox. Glad you got to the root of your computer problem 🙂 xoxoxo
Kathryn
Mao and Ched agree! Mao said: Momy Kathryn just pets us and pets and us and pets us and gifs us the foods we wunt (Mao can’t spell).
Ched said: I sleeps all days and nites and don’t need no camera, but I’ll pose when I needz 2. (Ched can’t spell either.)
If I had an opp to make money with the cats, like a TV commercial, they’d soon hate it because of all the rehearals and intrusions on their lives, and then I would hate it, too. So I’d never do it, even if the opp came up.
Layla Morgan Wilde
Kathryn, that’s a healthy view: if they would hate it, then so would I. Cats first and then all is well xoxox
Tamago
I certainly love taking photos of my boys and share them for fun, but I would never exploit them to get fame or money. Like you said, kitties have no interest in those things!
Layla Morgan Wilde
Tamago, everything you do is with respect and I love you for it xoxox
Fur Everywhere
I think most people genuinely want to share their kitties with others. I agree, some go too far, but I think they are the exception, not the norm. That being said, I do know of a shelter who dresses up its cats in hats and clothes, and the cats always look unhappy in these photos. It really boils my blood that a shelter would do this because they should know better! They might see it as “cute,” but I just feel sorry for the poor babies.
Layla Morgan Wilde
I would have to agree with you about the shelter cats wearing costumes. It’s stressful enough being in a shelter environment. Good shelter cat photos do help with adoption but it should be about the cat not a cute costume.
The Island Cats
We agree, Merlin, us cats could care less about the fame as long as we get our treats. 🙂
Layla Morgan Wilde
The smart ones get treats without having to work 😉 xox
easy rider
Happy Columbus Day!!! Thanks for sharing so much feline wisdom with me today… I agree with you… and I eggs-tra agree for being happy is better than to be a king… the most kings are very unhappy, therefore they sometimes did very weird things in the past… or to say it with CAT Stevens, I don’t wanna live in a palace… there is too much emptiness :o)