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The ill-famed Coldplay concert ‘Kiss Cam’ has made household names of the two executives. It’s not a fleeting event but a nod at the simmering voyeuristic tendencies of us all
It’s serious business when the Amul Girl chooses to voice her opinion. It’s been over two weeks since the giant ‘Kiss Cam’ at the British rock band Coldplay concert in Boston allegedly captured what was a private moment between Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s HR chief Kristin Cabot. The two were caught embracing like a romantic couple and it later came to light that the two are married, just not to each other.
Since then, the incident has spawned hundreds of memes, GIFs, and commentary, making it impossible to miss news of the ‘Coldplay couple’ unless you’ve been living under a rock. Even in India the Amul Girl — the charming mascot of Amul, the Indian Dairy giant — took a dig at the event, through the Amul Topicals.
The image depicted the animated versions of the Coldplay Couple, while the Amul girl looks at them in awe/shock. Amul Topical: Couple caught on ‘kiss cam’ at Coldplay concert!, was the caption for the same. Hum Tum ek camera may band ho!, was the follow up text on the image — a take on the song ‘Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Ho’ from the 1973 Bollywood film Bobby.
It’s not just the Amul girl, but many brands, news editorials have jumped on the Coldplay Couple Bandwagon. The ripple effect of the incident included Andy Byron, the Astronomer CEO having to resign from his post and HR chief Kristin Cabot being put on leave. Amongst all this, there was a miniature battle of the bands brewing.
Oasis, the Manchester-based British rock band, announced at their show in Heaton Park, “Do we have any love birds in the house?, said Liam Gallagher, lead singer of the band. “Don’t worry, we won’t have none of that Coldplay snidey f–ing camera s–t here.”
Voyeurs are us
But the so-called ‘f–ing camera s–t’, as Liam Gallagher so eloquently put it, is truly ubiquitous. Between phone cameras, CCTV and satellite imaging and tracking, is all magnified by today’s time of all-pervasive social media, privacy is fast becoming an urban legend. Hiding one’s deeds is becoming a near impossible task. With over a million shares, likes, tweets, retweets, and reposts (and still counting), the ‘Coldplay Couple’ incident became a household reference.
Also read: After Astronomer Byron-Cabot cheatgate, a fake post on Coldplay 'no-camera' zone
And it’s we the people who are responsible for this phenomenon. We have stopped being just passive consumers and observers of the news. And it’s not the fast-paced news sharing aspect of this that’s worrying. We are now active voyeurs, magnetically attracted to the spectacle of others’ failures. The said failure is often mere entertainment, but many times it makes us feel better about our own lives by comparison alone. ‘Thank god it’s not us’ is what’s muttered when we see others in trouble.
But we keep gawking, horrified, yet enthralled at the misfortune meted out to someone else. Voyeurism has taken new forms, where we gloat, dissect scandal and misfortune with a passion that’s, frankly, scary. There is a reason that cringey, borderline invasive content from reality shows like Bigg Boss and such goes viral. Those clips gain insane traction, and people watch them like a moth dancing to a moving flame.
Also read: Why I don’t need to see Coldplay perform live to validate my bond with their music
With the Coldplay Cam, there is an added layer of the ‘Fall from Grace’ situation. The two people in question were placed in fairly powerful situations, both socially and financially. They literally impacted lives. There might be many scorned employees of Astronomer, who rejoiced in the fall of the duo. We do not know the truth behind their embrace at the concert. We don’t know what were the determining factors that led them to be at the Coldplay concert.
What is, we are sure, an extremely painful matter between two families, has been reduced to punchline, a joke or a mere topical reference which will fade away when the next social media friendly incident hits the news cycle. But sadly for Calbot and Byron, they will have to pay a huge price for that one evening.
Blame it on the algorithm
Social Media, the evil on which we love to blame everything, from the anti-social behaviour of your kid to climate change, is a beast that’s fuelled by our own voyeuristic tendencies. While the algorithm having picked up on your interest on the theme sure fills up your feed with ‘related content’, but it is our very own fingers that click the ‘share’ icon repeatedly.
While many of us might not have posted the content on our feeds, we did readily share it with our friends and peers by DMing them the same. It’s no longer just likes that count; shares add up, too. So, the next time we wish to absolve ourselves of the crime of disinformation, we’ll need to look at our own actions twice.
Also read: What the 52-hertz whale, world’s loneliest, tells us about our isolated lives
The physical distance, anonymity, and safety of being a faceless entity on social media have given a platform to the most sinister and dark aspects of our minds and souls, all at the cost of an internet connection and a social media account. And in the process we have become the judge, jury and the executioner. We are condemning people to social exile, almost like stoning in medieval times.
But maybe we need to pause and think, before we cast that first stone of a comment/share or a like. Because the day is not that far off, when our phones and our ‘data’ might just be made public, and that one innocent flirty text with a married co-worker would be read by all.
