Part One: The Beatles and Beatlemania

(This is part one of a two-part case study examining female-dominated fanbases as public relations strategies)

The year was 1964. Liverpool-bred rock group The Beatles arrived at San Francisco Airport in August 1964. Awaiting their arrival on the tarmac are massive swarms of young fans waiting just to get a glimpse of the “Fab Four.” They’re jumping on top of each other, desperately clutching signs welcoming them to the U.S. for their first full North American tour.

Beyond their immeasurable impact on music as a medium, The Beatles are often regarded as the first modern-day “boy band.” With that came one of the earliest expressions of a large-scale female-dominated fanbase: Beatlemania.

What is Beatlemania?

Beatlemania describes the phenomenon of the massive swarms of young women obsessed with The Beatles’ every move.

They waited with bated breath outside airports, they desperately chased their cars outside their hotels, they screamed bloody murder at concerts, they organized incredibly popular fan clubs and caused public fascination and intrigue at the spectacle set alight by their antics.

Keep in mind, this was all before any concept of “social media.” Fans organized attendance at these events organically in every sense of the word. Before “Stan Twitter,” which will be discussed in the second part of this case study series, with the rise of BTS in the United States. Up until the 1990s, there was no common 24/7 platform for these girls to indulge their love for the Beatles with their friends from across the world.

That is what is so fascinating about Beatlemania, which hasn’t been seen by many groups since then, without the invention of the internet and social media platforms.

They were part of the reason why the group grew to become so massive in the beginning of their careers, before they expanded to more experimental music that they are known for to this day.

Beatlemania was one of the very first large-scale expressions of female-dominated fandom that doubled as a tool for mass publicity.

Fandom and PR

Fandom isn’t typically thought of as “public relations strategy.” It’s a group’s fans; how could it be a tool to promote The Beatles as a band or a “phenomenon?”

First, let’s define what “fandom” actually means.

According to the American Library Association, fandom is “a community of people who are passionate about something, whether it’s a film, a band, a television show, a book, or a sports team.”

In its infancy in the ’60s, fandom looked like:

• Fan magazines/mailing groups
• Fan letters to the artist
• Teen magazines

If that’s true, what did public relations usually look like in the 1960s?

Typically, PR looked like:

• Information communication was very slow, and information was faxed back and forth without satellite service
• Working on-site was required, so information was typically relayed during the work week

So, given these barriers, how did The Beatles blow up so fast?

Women Influencing The Beatles’ Success

Let’s explore some specific instances of women in fandom influencing The Beatles’ trajectory in history.

• The Cavern Club:
  • The Cavern Club in Liverpool was The Beatles’ signature venue in their very early career. It is where their future manager, Brian Epstein, discovered them and helped get them signed to a record label. Though it was through the hype of their female fans that helped promote the group to the level of popularity that they are now known for.

• The Beatles’ British Invasion:
  • The Beatles’ “British Invasion” of the United States in the early 1960s was powered by the excitement of their U.S. female fans.
  • They:
    • requested The Beatles’ music on TV and radio stations
    • sent fan mail
    • told their friends about The Beatles’ music through word-of-mouth
  • All of which supported and showcased demand for The Beatles “across the pond,” and used the spectacle of the sheer amount of young ladies excited to see the group to pique the curiosity of about 73 million viewers of the Ed Sullivan show on Feb. 9, 1964.
  • Here is a video of American Beatles fans requesting The Beatles on American Bandstand:

• The Beatles’ Fanclub:
  • The Beatles’ official fan club was run by their diligent female fans wanting to hear more from the group that captivated them so much. Though fanclubs, as they were known back then, are practically obsolete now, the fanclub members received exclusive opportunities to interact with The Beatles and exclusive Christmas vinyls thanking the fans for their support!
  • Here’s what the 1964 Beatles fanclub Christmas message sounded like:

Beginning of Parasociality

Parasocial relationships in female fandoms started with The Beatles and Beatlemania in the 1960s. A parasocial relationship refers to a one-sided relationship where one party “extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence.” This is typically seen in celebrity-fan relationships, like The Beatles.

For example:

• “Sorry, girls! He’s married!”
  • When The Beatles were performing their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, through text on the screen, John Lennon revealed that he was married (at the time to Cynthia Powell), and screams of terror can be heard from the audience at the revelation that they did not have a chance to date him.
• Paul McCartney’s Wedding
  • When Paul McCartney got married to rock and roll photographer Linda Eastman, fans were sobbing outside the venue, mourning their chance to marry McCartney.
• “Apple Scruffs”
  • “Apple Scruffs” are a group of young women who waited to see The Beatles outside their company headquarters, Apple Corps, or their recording studio, Abbey Road. They went to great lengths to come in close proximity to them, even climbing through Paul McCartney’s bathroom window to steal his clothes; this later inspired the 1969 song “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” off the album “Abbey Road.”

The concept of parasocial relationships definitely inflated to this day.

• “Adrienne from Brooklyn”
  • A famous clip from 1964 depicts young fan Adrienne D’Onoforio confessing her love for Beatle Paul McCartney; this is a great example of the beginning of parsociality in Beatlemania.

As explored in the second part, the introduction of social media made parasocial relationships more reasonable and accessible.

Misogyny in Female-led Fandoms

However, what hasn’t changed since the 1960s is the misogyny surrounding women-dominated fandoms. 

Whenever an artist—usually a band or a solo male singer—develops a primarily female audience, both the artist and its audience suffer in being taken seriously by society. The artist is known for being a “god” to their female fans, and no matter what the fandom tries to do, they are framed as “crazy preteens.”

Beatlemania was framed as hysteria, and while the behavior these young women were exhibiting is extremely unique and unprecedented, they shouldn’t have been discredited, nor should the group have been discredited for having female fans.

Until The Beatles started to experiment with their music with Rubber Soul and Revolver, critics separated their commercial success from their legitimacy as artists because their female fans were thought of as “incredible.”

How could women like “good music”? How could they love something that much?

Takeaways for Entertainment PR

What can entertainment PR professionals take away from the lessons learned during Beatlemania?

• Taking advantage of (and not dismissing) the power of community and femininity is a great strategic tool.
• Acknowledging the demographics the organization/client attracts allows them to hone in on effective strategy approaches.
• Taking into account the emotional investment fans have in their favorite things can become an influential force on a client’s success

The Echoes of These Strategies in the Modern Day

So, can these strategies be traced to modern-day PR strategies in entertainment?

Yes.

The next widespread instance of female-dominated fandoms functioning as a strategic public relations tool would be in the BTS ARMY.

As a fan of both groups, it’s evident that female fandom culture has consistent commonalities in its power to become a spectacle and influential public relations strategy, even across media ecosystems, time and global boundaries.

To learn more, read my next post where I explore the way these same dynamics show up in the BTS ARMY fandom, and how women continue to be an influential force in entertainment public relations.