Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 62

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Popular Culture Review

Participation was also found in the “About Martha” room. Here, site visitors
read the answer to the question of the week. The room included a posting of
frequently asked questions about Martha, gardening, cooking or decorating.
Martha’s biography, a scrapbook featuring digital photographs of Martha’s activities,
and Martha’s calendar were posted in this room of the site. The site user could
submit questions to Martha (MSLO) or could peruse the scrapbook and vicariously
participate in other aspects of Martha’s public/private life.
Yet another example of parasocial relationship strategies is found when the
site user becomes a consumer of MSLO merchandise. A thank you note, signed by
Martha, accompanies any purchase from the Web store.
MSLO uses a variety of strategies to create the impression that Martha Stewart
is a friend of Web site users. They use mediated interpersonal communication to
forge a parasocial relationship between consumers and Martha Stewart. The MSLO
staff uses one-way messaging systems, with messages designed to appear as
personalized messages, to create the illusion of interpersonal mediated
communication. The Web site visitor “knows” Martha Stewart and Martha Stewart
“knows” Web site visitors. The information collected about site visitors can be
used to “coach” users through the use of appropriate “patter” and to ensure the
correct responses to Martha Stewart, to buy her merchandise.
It is helpful, when trying to understand these marketing strategies, to examine
the evolution of the MSLO Web site. The development of the Web site is chronicled
below.

Web Site Evolution

The www.marthastewart.com Web site, launched in the fall of 1997, represented
a new synergistic strategy for MSLO. Homepages, reflecting the personality of
mass media companies, have been used as promotional vehicles aimed at younger,
affluent adults. “Increasingly, though, media firms see their on-line activities as
potentially profitable businesses that go beyond highlighting the firm’s activities
in other media to deliver entertainment, news and information” (Turow 276). This
was a very apt description of www.marthastewart.com. The Web site has evolved
just as Turow would have predicted and beyond. The MSLO Web site has become
a full-blown e-commerce site.
Shortly before the launching of the site. Rich described the planned evolution
of the site. “The site will initially serve as an information resource to accompany
the shows, in the way her monthly magazine, M artha S tew art Living, carries details
on products and services mentioned on television. The site will also feature a
commerce section devoted to MSL merchandise. Ultimately, the site will evolve
into a larger, full-fledged Internet service...” (Rich 38).
Initially, users were encouraged to visit www.marthastewart.com every day to