In the summer of 2024, pop star Chappell Roan publicly called out her fans for being “creepy” and “weird,” asking, “if you saw a random woman on the street, would you yell at her from the car window?” Media coverage quickly seized on a familiar term to make sense of the incident: parasocial. But what does it really mean to have a parasocial relationship with a celebrity, and is it even the right term for what’s going on here? In this episode, Ben walks Rich through the surprising history of a now-mainstream academic concept. So, loyal listeners, don’t pretend like you know us (sorry, Mum).

[Video] I Am Not Your Friend

‘I wouldn’t dream of telling a stranger I hated their laugh’: how does it feel when your social media followers cross a line? | Social media | The Guardian

Bucy, A. (2024). Normalising Fan Parasociality within Pathologising Traces Fan discourses of ‘good’and ‘bad’parasocial behaviours. Persona Studies, 10(2), 40-54.

Chen, C. P. (2016). Forming digital self and parasocial relationships on YouTube. Journal of Consumer culture, 16(1), 232-254.

Gamson, J. (2023). Claims to fame: Celebrity in contemporary America. Univ of California Press.

Hills, M. (2015). From para‐social to multisocial interaction: theorizing material/digital fandom and celebrity. A companion to celebrity, 463-482.

Horton, D., & Richard Wohl, R. (1956). Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a distance. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215-229.

Liebers, N., & Schramm, H. (2019). Parasocial interactions and relationships with media characters–an inventory of 60 years of research. Communication Research Trends, 38(2), 4-31.

Reijnders, S., Spijkers, M., Roeland, J., & Boross, B. (2014). Close encounters: Ritualizing proximity in the age of celebrity. An ethnographic analysis of meet-and-greets with Dutch singer Marco Borsato. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 17(2), 149-169.

Rojek, C. (2015). Presumed intimacy: Parasocial interaction in media, society and celebrity culture. John Wiley & Sons.

Too close for comfort: the pitfalls of parasocial relationships | Social media | The Guardian

Tukachinsky, R., Walter, N., & Saucier, C. J. (2020). Antecedents and effects of parasocial relationships A meta-analysis. Journal of Communication, 70(6), 868-894

University study looks at YouTube and parasocial relationships - BBC News

Why are TikTok creators so good at making people buy things? - BBC Worklife

Why we feel so close: The science behind parasocial relationships with musicians

You are not that singer’s best friend!: The dangers of parasocial relationships in the music industry - The Boar

Note: Journal articles are often behind paywalls. If you don't have institutional access but would like a copy of these papers please email Illeffectspod@gmail.com and we will happily send you a copy 

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Music by - Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

producer – Caroline Pringle 

This week, Rich fires up the dial-up and drags Ben back to the '90s, when computer porn was “technology’s HIV” and the moral panic went full throttle. It’s ILL EFFECTS bingo: lurid headlines, laughable research, ominous documentary music, and a truly cursed TIME magazine cover of a man trying to get jiggy with his computer monitor.

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Music by -  Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

Producer – Caroline Pringle 

Can television make you kinder? Can video games make you smarter? Can porn improve your maths skills? Wait, what? In this episode, Ben walks Rich through a curious set of popular claims circulating in online blogs: that pop culture might be having positive effects. But what’s the evidence behind these claims? And what does their popularity reveal about how we understand news, science, and ultimately our own anxieties about work and leisure?

Litherland, B. (2025). Smarter, better, faster, kinder? The problems with claiming that media and popular culture has positive effects. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 13678779251337761.

Note: Journal articles are often behind paywalls. If you don't have institutional access but would like a copy of these papers please email Illeffectspod@gmail.com and we will happily send you a copy 

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Music by -  Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

Producer – Caroline Pringle 

Ill effects does Hot Ones! Ben and Rich talk about using hot sauce as a measure of aggression in lab-based experiments when studying the relationship between media and violence. They do this while unwisely eating increasingly hot hot sauces. Where did this research come from, why are their mouths burning? All this and more. “Hey, look at us. Who would have thought? Not me!”

Krahé, B. (2014). Restoring the spirit of fair play in the debate about violent video games. European Psychologist.

Lieberman, J. D., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & McGregor, H. A. (1999). A hot new way to measure aggression: Hot sauce allocation. Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, 25(5), 331-348.

Markey, P. M., Markey, C. N., & French, J. E. (2015). Violent video games and real-world violence: Rhetoric versus data. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 4(4), 277.

McCarthy, R. J., & Elson, M. (2018). A conceptual review of lab-based aggression paradigms. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1).

Plante, C., Anderson, C. A., Allen, J. J., Groves, C. L., & Gentile, D. A. (2020). Game On!: Sensible Answers about Video Games and Media Violence. Zengen LLC.

Ritter, D., & Eslea, M. (2005). Hot sauce, toy guns, and graffiti: A critical account of current laboratory aggression paradigms. Aggressive Behavior: Official Journal of the International Society for Research on Aggression, 31(5), 407-419.

Tedeschi, J. T., & Quigley, B. M. (1996). Limitations of laboratory paradigms for studying aggression. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 1(2), 163-177.

Note: Journal articles are often behind paywalls. If you don't have institutional access but would like a copy of these papers please email Illeffectspod@gmail.com and we will happily send you a copy 

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Title Music by -  Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

Producer – Caroline Pringle 

Dramatic Music by Dmitry Taras from Pixabay – dramatic

Knife crime, hip hop, and... Vanessa Carlton?!? In 2018, drill music became known as the soundtrack to social collapse—accused of inciting violence, corrupting youth, and starting gang wars via YouTube beef. But Rich shows Ben that behind the panic lies a familiar story: bad data, racial scapegoating, and a government more comfortable censoring rap than tackling inequality. Hang on until the end for a bizarre cameo from a very confused young offenders’ playlist.

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Music by -  Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

Producer – Caroline Pringle 

Cover image: “Skengdo & AM backstage at Greener on the Other Side EP Launch, Ace Hotel, Shoreditch” (2018) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skengdo_x_AM.jpg

Air Horn: Sound Effect by Waitwhatimsignedin from Pixabay

Air Horn 2: Sound Effect by SonixFXSounds from Pixabay

[Eat popcorn!] In 1957, market researcher James Vicary promised he could flash split-second commands on movie screens and subconsciously influence audiences to buy things. He called it subliminal advertising. [Drink Coca-Cola!] Ben drags Rich through the riotous history of hidden persuasion, packed with hucksters, gimmicks, and shrinks. But as silly as these experiments were, what do they reveal about our relationships to advertising today? [Consume!]

Show Notes:

Acland, C. R. (2011). Swift viewing The popular life of subliminal influence. Duke University Press.

Crandall, K. B. (2006). Invisible commercials and hidden persuaders: James M. Vicary and the subliminal advertising controversy of 1957. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Florida. Available at http://plaza. ufl. edu/cyllek/docs/KCrandall_Thesis2006. pdf.

Fullerton, Ronald A. "The Devil's Lure?: Motivation Research, 1934-1954." In Proceedings of the Conference on Historical Analysis and Research in Marketing, vol. 12, pp. 134-143. 2005.

Heffernan, K. (2002). The hypnosis horror films of the 1950s: Genre texts and industrial context. Journal of Film and Video, 54(2/3), 56-70.

Horowitz, D. (1994). Vance Packard & American Social Criticism. Univ of North Carolina Press.

Key, W. B. (1973). Subliminal seduction: Ad media’s manipulation of a not so innocent America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Mackay, J., & Anonymous. (2023). Hypnosis and pornography: a cultural history. Porn Studies, 10(1), 82-98.

Parkin, K. (2004). The sex of food and Ernest Dichter: the illusion of inevitability. Advertising & Society Review, 5(2).

Samuel, L. R. (2010). Freud on Madison Avenue: motivation research and subliminal advertising in America. University of Pennsylvania Press.

[Video] Aldous Huxley interviewed by Mike Wallace

[Video] Daniels, Harold (1958) My World Dies Screaming

Note: Journal articles are often behind paywalls. If you don't have institutional access but would like a copy of these papers please email Illeffectspod@gmail.com and we will happily send you a copy 

Credits: 

Hosts – Rich McCulloch and Ben Litherland  

Music by -  Brutalust (Colin Frank and Maria Sappho), recorded and mixed by Joe Christman 

Producer – Caroline Pringle