Stacy Robertson
Stacy Robertson
August 12, 2019 ·  4 min read

Mom Recreates Celebrity Instagram Pics And The Results Are Hilarious

We all would like to be favorite celebrities, even for only one day. It seems like our social media is saturated with their glamorous posts taken by seasoned photographers. One woman decided to show how hilariously unrealistic these images are.

Australian actor, writer, and comedian, Celeste Barber, 36, has been actively working in the entertainment industry for over a decade. Celeste is best known as the paramedic, Bree Matthews, on All Saints. She was a sketch writer/performer on The Matty Johns Show, and has had recurring roles on Home and Away, Wonderland, and How Not to Behave.

However, she has gained an enormous following by hilariously recreating celebrity photos on her Instagram profile @celestebarber. Her social media handle, which has more than 1121 posts and over 5.9million followers, features many videos of Celeste on tour, her podcast, pictures of family, and much more.

It’s safe to say the majority of her followers love her amusing parodies of celebrity Instagram pictures. These hilarious photo parodies are tagged under the hashtag: #CelesteChallengeAccepted.

According to Celeste:

“People are really supporting it. I didn’t really care for how it would be perceived; I just started it for my friends who I knew would love it. I continued it because people are telling me it is their daily laugh and they have started to challenge me,” Celeste said.[1]

Even the Celebrities Love It

You’d think that as someone who spends her time parodying their sexiest of snaps, Celeste would be one of Hollywood’s most hated people. However, she claims that most celebrities she imitates end up becoming fans of her work.

In an interview with The Times, Celeste admitted that she once received a personal message from Cindy Crawford herself to say she’d ‘killed it’ after she mocked her Pepsi commercial. She’s also endorsements from Kris Jenner and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Lifestyle and natural health magazine, Goop, shared her recreation of Gwyneth covered in mud on the front of one of its magazines. Kris Jenner reposted an article about Celeste’s parody photos, with the caption: This girl cracks me up. LOL![2]

Her Instagram parodies caught the attention of casting agents, and she landed a starring role in ABC show The Letdown, in which she played a ragged parent in a mother’s group.

The Beginning of Something Great

The #CelesteChallengeAccepted began as a running joke between Celeste and her sister, but Celeste decided to start posting them online when she saw how much people liked them. She says her pictures are meant to show the difference between real life and celebrities’ highly edited and unattainable images.

She explained in an Instagram post:

“Fashion is art and I enjoy the spectacle, but we’re struggling to differentiate. So when we’re constantly being fed unattainable things passed off as the norm, I just want to shout ‘Stop!”

Her latest victims include Kim Kardashian, who took an Instagram shot with a black two-piece bikini with the Channel logo clearly shown. Soon after, Celeste posted a picture of herself in a similar pose and outfit but with post-it notes that read “Buy My Book” in place of the Chanel logo.

Other exploits include a parody of Bella Hadid, who posed with a sheet wrapped around her naked body with the words “I dream” written on it. Celeste recreated the shot but this time, with a sheet that said “I eat” on the front.

On another occasion, she recreated a Rita Ora picture, in which the actress and singer posed completely naked, covering her modesty with her hands, which were clad in leather, open-finger gloves. In Celeste’s recreation, she covered up her own naked body with her dish-washing gloves.

A Foot in the Door

Even though Celeste was involved in a comedy career before she began her side project, her Instagram photo recreations have helped open doors where they matter most. In 2017, Celeste won a WhoHaha female comedy award for the funniest women on the internet. Most recently, she has been selling out shows for the Sydney Comedy and Fringe festivals.

Celeste isn’t the only one who has had a huge career boost as a result of social media tactics. Many people are currently making money by posting hilarious content online in a bid to amass a following they can advertise or promote a particular product to. This is more commonly called Influencer Marketing.

Celebrities like Kylie Jenner makes as much as $1.2 million per sponsored post. The majority of these advertisements is bought by people or companies who think that the benefit derived from this outreach will exceed the cost associated with the post.[3]

This business model is becoming more popular in recent times and can be seen in other social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter, and blogging.

Reference:

  1. “Woman Continues To Hilariously Recreate Celebrity Instagram Photos (78 Pics)”, Bored Panda.
  2. “Comedian Celeste Barber who parodies sexy celebrity photoshoots claims stars LOVE her work – and even Cindy Crawford and Kris Jenner are fans”, Daily Mail. October, 2018.
  3. “How Celebrities Really Make Money on Instagram: Behind the Secret World of Social Media Sponsorship”, E News. June, 2016.