“I Prefer Brittany”
Brittany Broski is the epitome of a meme celebrity. Rising to fame as “kombucha girl” after posting a 21 second video of her trying kombucha for the first time to TikTok, her face was soon plastered over social media after being screenshotted and picked up by what she describes as “gay twitter”.
In this blog we will explore Brittany Broski’s fame through Abdin’s three stages of meme personalities developing into internet celebrities.
FACES OF MEMES
Abidin (2018) describes how in this stage “the context of the image, the backstory of the situation, and original identity markers of the person are stripped away” (pg. 45). This was the case with “kombucha girl”, her facial expressions were screenshotted and shared with captions ranging from “thinking should I ignore my groceries and order Taco Bell” to “the first time I ate ass”. While some captions were harmless fun, Brittany describes in a video with Buzzfeed how the explicit versions ultimately led to losing her job at a bank.
Later in the video, Brittany describes how the screenshots required no language and were shared globally. Shifman (2014, pg. 155) describes this as “user-generated globalisation”, where internet users translate and share memes across cultures. This allows the face of the meme to be recognisable all over the world, as in Brittany’s case.
MEME PERSONAE
By “intentionally pursuing a public persona modelled after the narrative for which their meme has become popular”, Abidin (2018) argues that people attain “transient virality” through their “meme personae” (pg. 47). Brittany continued to post videos on TikTok and branched out to YouTube. She created one more “Kombucha Taste Test” video but also extended her content to include impressions and skits. All videos still utilise her iconic facial expressions, described by psychology professor, Dr. Dacher Keltner, to the New York Times as “exceptional — easy to see and rich.” By continuing to post varied content she has retained her following for over a year.
MEME CELEBRITY
To achieve “meme celebrity”, the meme persona must grow “their meme fame into a stable, sustained, and usually diversified commercial business” (Abdin, 2018, pg. 50).
“Kombucha girl” has certainly done this. She signed to a management agency, has taken on multiple sponsorships and continued to grow her online following on YouTube and TikTok, both of which she makes money from. In addition, she featured in a Superbowl half-time commercial and told Vox that she has started working on show pitches. She also states that she wants to “voice act for a Disney Pixar film; that’s my absolute end goal.” This journey from a TikTok video to appearing on TV and making money from her fame, is what Strangelove (2010) refers to as “a deinstitutionalised route to such recognition” (pg. 116).
However, despite leveraging Abidin’s (2018) three stages, when asked by Time Magazine whether she prefers “kombucha lady” or “kombucha girl”, she replied “I prefer Brittany”, showing she is just a girl from Texas who did not intend to become an internet meme.
References
Abidin, C. (2018). Internet celebrity: Understanding fame online. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.
Bogel-Burroughs, N. (2019, August 23). ‘I’m Sick of Seeing My Face,’ Says the Internet’s Kombucha Connoisseur. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/style/kombucha-internet-viral.html
Brittany Brokski (2019, September 10). Kombucha Taste Test Pt. 2 | Brittany Broski. [Video] YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVgDfzWR3fo
BuzzFeedVideo (2020, August 26). I accidentally became a meme: Kombucha girl. [Video] YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbyXWZVx5Hc
Greenspan, R. (2019, December 17). Becoming a Meme Sensation Cost ‘Kombucha Girl’ Her Day Job. Her New Career Move Is More Exciting. Time. Retrieved from: https://time.com/5744175/kombucha-girl-tiktok-brittany-tomlinson-interview/
Jennings, R. (2020, August 25). How “kombucha girl” revolutionized internet fame. Vox. Retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/8/25/21399317/brittany-broski-kombucha-tiktok-tomlinson
Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in digital culture. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Strangelove, M. (2010). Watching YouTube: Extraordinary videos by ordinary people. London: University of Toronto Press.
Zextty (2020, February 2). Sabra Super Bowl Commercial 2020 With Charlie D’amelio And Bugha. [Video] YouTube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2FIZn8UUu8&feature=emb_logo
