The nostalgia and serendipity of snagging your idol’s autograph has lost a lot of its appeal in an era of ‘signature’ celebrity products and high-priced meet and greets
I’ve never asked for an autograph before, and I can’t say there’s anyone whose signature I would queue up for or pay to procure. That’s not to say I wouldn’t be excited to meet one of my idols, but I don’t know that a simple signature would be a great way to commemorate the moment, at least not anymore.
Celebrity signatures stamped on makeup packages and album covers and embossed into perfume bottles have caused them to lose a bit of their magic for me. Even products sold as ‘hand-signed’ can’t be trusted anymore.
Just this week, fans were outraged by claims that BLACKPINK’s Lisa and Jennie used autopen machine signatures for CDs being marketed as hand-signed. Many fans pointed out that “hand-signed” and “signed by artist” mean different things: the former means an album could be signed by an employee and only “signed by artist” means the product is likely signed by the artist themselves. Translation: read the fine print.
It feels like some of the magic may be lost for celebrities as well. Many have become increasingly cautious when it comes to what they sign and even, what they sign it with.
The Crown actress Claire Foy drew attention to the fact that celebrities are advised not to sign in blue ink when she rejected a fan’s request for an autograph, famously saying, ‘I don’t do blue’. The reason being that blue ink is easier to forge and replicate, though this claim is generally considered a myth.
The resale market for celebrity autographs is another big driver of this growing caution, with autograph hunters (aka ‘graphers’) hounding celebrities to sign stacks of photos to make their bread and butter. But more than simple headshots, autograph hunters are asking celebrities to sign risque and even embarrassing photos of themselves to drive up prices.
Naturally, celebrities refuse to sign these types of photos, though I imagine it’s hard to keep track of what you’re signing when you’re being bombarded with pens, pictures, limbs, lights and shouts.
Many autograph hunters simply ask celebrities to sign blank sheets, planning to impose the picture of their choice later on. Knowing this, Blake Lively denied a fan’s request for an autograph on a clear canvas last summer, saying: “No clear ones, you know better”.
Money driving the business of autographs is nothing new. But with exorbitant meet and greet prices, second-guessing celebs and the rise of autopens forcing fans to read the fine print, the excitement and the magic is a little lost.
That’s not to say autographs aren’t still incredibly valuable, but maybe it’s a problem for the new era of celebrities. Only a few years ago, a pair of Michael Jordan’s game-worn autographed shoes from 1985 sold for more than three times the estimated auction price.
The sale of the Air Jordan 1 shoes broke the world auction record for sneakers, according to Sotheby’s, selling for $560,000. There is clearly still a market for signed celebrity products and memorabilia.
But what about fans that are priced out of meet and greets or can’t afford a ‘hand-signed’ album? Does a ‘signature’ celebrity perfume fill the same void?