Smart marketing, indeed, with an emotional connection. The shows generate a lot of interest because they research the family histories of a wide range of popular celebrities, turning up unexpected discoveries and showing how the place and the time profoundly affected family choices and decisions. By bringing to life the social and cultural context of genealogy, the shows and magazine demonstrate that there's more to family history than a simple list of dates and ancestors' names.
After watching Alan Cumming learn about his family's secrets and Hugh Quarshie follow his family tree back in time to Ghana and the Netherlands, it's not surprising that many viewers click on the programme's Web site and try to find out more about their own family histories.
Now fans of the series can buy tickets to Who Do You Think You Are Live, featuring some of the celebrities who have traced their family histories on the show--and, of course, more than 100 companies offering goods and services to help consumers get started on their own genealogical adventures. Because of the genealogy industry's new-found popularity (and prosperity), we can subscribe to databases filled with documents that help us trace our ancestors and buy magazines that help us understand the periods and places in which our families lived. In short, the marketing encourages us, as customers, to find out who we really are.
