Simulacra
A concept most closely associated with Jean Baudrillard, referring to representations that have detached from any underlying reality and circulate as copies of copies, or as signs that refer only to other signs. Baudrillard outlines a progression — from a faithful image of reality, to a distorted one, to one that masks the absence of reality, and finally to "pure simulation," in which the representation no longer has any relation to a real referent at all. The framework is often applied to advertising, theme parks, reality TV, social media, and meme stocks, and connects to the broader map–territory distinction.