I think Taylor Swift has been clever is publicising her love of cats. I am sure it has heightened her public profile. It has certainly got her into the online newspapers on numerous occasions. Her relationship with cats is what I’d call symbiotic, meaning of benefit to both her and cats. There is a slight danger, though, of Taylor promoting the cat as an accessory rather than as a living companion which requires considerable care and commitment.
For some inexplicable reason domestic cats (it has to be domestic cats as wild cats are still totally uncool for celebs) became an internet sensation. Common sense says that if a celebrity hooks up with a cat or two she is more likely to be photographed and become a news item. This is particularly so if the cat is cute. Scottish Folds are cute with rounded faces and heads because the ears are flat. The Scottish Fold is very baby-like. Taylor has a Scottish Fold.
I am not suggesting that Taylor Swifts relationship with cats is anything but genuine by the way. It is just that the consequences are beneficial to her financially.
If a Taylor Swift is walking from her apartment with a Scottish Fold on her arm you are combining an attractive women, an attractive cat and a baby all in one picture – total success is assured. The photo goes viral and the lady gets a ton of publicity which furthers her career.
Here she is in a new advert dreaming about a ton of cats or being mysteriously transported to a fantasy world of cats. How managed to make the video, I have no idea – probably CGI.
http://youtu.be/okTokQgOo6I
Another celeb who uses companion animals to good effect is Paris Hilton. She favours handbag dogs. You can’t get handbag cats (miniature cats); they are too scarce.
Yes I think Taylor is a stunning girl but when you are in the public eye and you have many adoring fans you have to accept responsibility that those fans follow your every move and ‘want to be like you’ so there is a danger that youngsters particularly want a ‘cat like Taylors’ but then realise what that entails and it gets abandoned 🙁 I wonder if there has been a rise in the interest and purchase of Scottish folds since Taylor has been out and about with hers?
Excellent point Leah which I had not emphasised. Taylor Swift’s behavior should really revolve around a recognition that she is a role model to some girls.
I think Taylor Swift is very immature and I hope her young fans don’t decide they want to be cat lovers too but then cast them out when a new idol with a new fad comes along.
I hate it when cats are used to boost the fame of any ‘celebrity’
I agree that Taylor Swift seems to genuinely like cats, but I do wish she’d stop carrying her kitten Olivia around like an accessory.
Paris Hilton “uses” animals all right. She sparked a craze for handbag dogs which has resulted in thousands of abandoned dogs now that particular fashion-fad has passed. She adopted “Prada” the cat from a shelter and then left it home alone for months without any human interaction. The shelter re-claimed the cat and placed it into a foster home.
http://www.facekitty.com/2008/03/would-you-abandon-this-cat-par.html
Agree with what you say a cat is not a Accessory and should be treated better than that.
Agreed. I hope and sense that Taylor is better than Paris. But she is using her cat to raise her profile and get into the papers which is smart. However, you are probably right that the relationship is not entirely symbiotic as I stated. It is much more favourable to Taylor Swift. Sometimes I think she deliberately introduced cats into her life to push her career along.
Swift was on some tv show last night. This morning a new thing called #CatsWatchingTaylorSwift appeared on my Facebook page. This is ample proof she has gotten through to the public.
It seems to be all about self-promotion and using the domestic cat as a vehicle but am I being too cynical?
Maybe as little, I mean it’s important where it started out and I suspect it was a genuine love of cats, but it develops oddly due to her place i society more than anything. Her intention is key if you are going to discuss the values of it. Obviously if her intention was self promotion that would make the value different but not change what’s happening. IT’s a hard one to judge in value terms of good and bad.
Michael I think about you and Charlie everyday and it’s devastating it really is. I’m so sorry about it and you probably do’t need me to bring it up here now. Was gonna write an email but thought to come here for a visit instead.
As I said I am away temporarily and do believe I will be back in full in the future. Hello to any regulars reading this. I miss my PoC friends really alot, you are the best of the best in my mind and that will never change. Hope all your cats are doing well too.
I forgot the tick the ’email if there’s a reply’ box so I am ticking it now 🙂
So miss you Marc.
Hope all is well.
Heya Dee I miss all of you as well and I will be back, I have to manage to get something about Red out for his memorial and am getting closer to a place where I can finally do that. So see you soon I suppose 🙂
We hope you are OK.
Marc we miss you. We want you back 😉
Charlie’s illness and death really hurt me. Months of nursing him and seeing him get worse and lose his appearance. Horrible. I balled my eyes out.
I am looking after a foster cat now. He is super cute – a young fellow of about 8 months of age. He sleeps very close to me and is very friendly. I take the role of cat fosterer very seriously. It is a responsibility.
Its great that you’re fostering its so rewarding and you are doing something to help cats 🙂 do you think you may get too attached and want to keep him?
Yes its happening already, Piki is a great cat, one of those human cats who looks you in the eye and says things, she talks a lot to me.
Like Gigi. Who is amazing and could be a therapy cat for other cats, a cat ambassador. She would make an excellent British Prime Minister and could promote Larry and Freya to some positions out in the countryside away from all roads and bad peoples.
Piki is just not having it with other cats. They want to come and sniff her and she won’t let them closer than about 5 feet after which she makes a sound that is actually frightening and agonizing all at once. Sometimes thwe other cats will hear it from another room and run and hide even though they are obviously safe. One thing I notice about Piki is her eyes do not reflect green, or whitish green, they reflect a bright red and she has big eyes and pupils. It’s a little disconcerting and very striking.
I wonder what the known science behind that is.
Not sure about her eyes but she must have had an awful experience with other cats perhaps when she was quite young for her to be so frightened when they come to sniff her
Hello Marc, we miss you x
Thx for the nice sentiments I can’t wait to come back and I miss you all and this alot but realistically I am not yet able to, I have too much going on that it’s be sporadic at best whereas I actually see it as an aim to sort my life out so that I am able to spend an hour a day on PoC. Its most important for me, and if I am writing here then I am in a good place in that I feel generally good and I am spending a good amount of time thinking and communicating about important things.
So gosh darn it I will be back, and soon I hope.
Good luck with that. It can be hard to follow a certain course in life because of everything that happens around us. I have always found life hard emotionally.
Swift’s original photos were ones she took herself. She just loves her cats. When they got so much attention her people probably stepped in and said, “Hey, let’s do more of these.” So it is promotion, but I do not doubt her love of her cats. Wasn’t that more than obvious on Graham Norton? So promotion, yes.. but not self-promotion.
I think you’re right Dan. I actually like Taylor. She comes over as a decent person.