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Hard truth

There’s been a fair bit of chat around recently on celebrities promoting good causes, the Red thing and famous people telling us how to live in general. My initial reaction is to tell celebs to get lost and keep their opinions to themselves. BUT…

The sad truth is that we live in world where celebrities are the new royalty. Celeb driven magazines sell by the truckload, people like Colleen Rooney have their own columns in magazines and people listen. As far as I’m aware, AIDS was never accepted as a heterosexual problem until Magic Johnson admitted he was HIV. Drop the Debt didn’t really become a live issue until Bono made it one (and God isn’t he annoying?). As much as Live Aid could have been about self serving musicians getting a fair bit of free marketing, it brought the issue to wider attention than would have been possible otherwise.

I wish we didn’t need famous people to tell us what’s a serious issue,and what isn’t, or brands for that matter, but if that what it takes, should we embrace it more?

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3 responses to “Hard truth”

  1. Rob @ Cynic Avatar
    Rob @ Cynic

    We’re in the World of Celebrity – where quite often, they have more credibility than the Politicians that are supposed to represent us. It could also be that we like the idea of being ‘connected’ to people who live the life we aspire too [we can feel that we belong in that social-circle] but all in all, if it helps people, it is a good thing.
    My only issue is that some celebrities/brands seem to embrace these charitable options with a sense of personal objective.
    Take RED.
    Sure it’s a good thing to help end poverty – but why is it that the main brands that have signed up are all overly aspirational, fashion-associated brands? The ones with less substance and more style?
    Is it that Bono thinks he can end poverty by making Western Fashion Victims go into poverty themselves with their credit cards?

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  2. Onewomanrunning Avatar
    Onewomanrunning

    I’d feel better about following celebrity-led causes if they all donated proportionate to what we donated. What’s a year’s salary to people like Bono, Madonna and the rest? It’s peanuts.
    I also agree with Rob. How is it that we have to get into even more debt to look like we have a moral and social conscience? I’m not buying it. Literally.

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  3. Andrew Avatar
    Andrew

    Good points both.

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