Long ago, when communities were centred around small villages, a person’s safety and sense of belonging were closely linked to their relationships with local leaders and elders. Those who were nearer to figures of authority were more likely to receive protection if conflict arose, making social closeness not only emotionally important but essential for survival.

In today’s society, celebrity magazines such as People and Us Weekly appear to meet a similar emotional need, according to research by Rajagopal Raghunathan, a marketing professor at Texas McCombs. By following the private lives of famous individuals, readers develop a feeling of familiarity and connection that can help ease loneliness and feelings of social exclusion.

Raghunathan says the idea emerged while travelling, when he noticed many people deeply engaged with gossip magazines and began questioning what motivated their interest. The enormous reach of publications like People, which attracts tens of millions of readers each month, suggests that this habit fulfilled more than simple curiosity or entertainment.

To explore this, Raghunathan worked with Jayant Nasa of the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur and Tanuka Ghoshal of Baruch College to conduct four experiments involving about 1,600 participants in the United States and India. The studies examined how experiences of social exclusion influenced people’s attraction to celebrity gossip compared with non-gossip content.

In one experiment, some participants were asked to recall a time when they felt rejected or left out, while others were not. Afterwards, everyone rated their interest in reading different types of articles. Those reminded of exclusion showed significantly greater interest in gossip stories, while interest in non-gossip material remained roughly the same across both groups.

Additional experiments revealed that this preference was driven by a sense of emotional closeness to celebrities. When researchers compared social exclusion with other negative feelings, such as feeling unintelligent or lacking control, they found that loneliness had the most substantial effect in pushing people towards gossip content.

Raghunathan explains that this reaction reflects deeply rooted human instincts, where closeness to high-status individuals once increased chances of survival. Even today, learning personal details about influential or famous figures can create a subconscious feeling of connection and security, showing that celebrity gossip serves as a modern tool for fulfilling the timeless human need for belonging.

More information: Jayant Nasa et al, A comforting cup of celeb tea: Understanding how social exclusion influences the appeal of celebrity gossip, European Journal of Marketing. DOI: 10.1108/EJM-02-2024-0146

Journal information: European Journal of Marketing Provided by University of Texas at Austin