Celebrity Activism

Celebrity activism has been slowly growing, more celebrities want more attention and fame, and getting involved in activist movements is a way to bring themselves more media attention. However, it also brings a lot of awareness to the movement or charity. Although some celebrities do become involved in activism for more media attention, some celebrities do use their platform to educate. It has become easier for celebrities to become involved in these movements, as they were previously controlled by their agents or PR, but social media has enabled celebrities to take control of the causes and movements they want to support.

Celebrities bring:

• Awareness
• Political Lobbying
• Fundraising

“Celebrity icons are very often the public faces of wider movements”

Rojeck (2002)

It has been researched that the public is more likely to become involved and support movements whose celebrity endorsers had a sincere commitment. (Samman et al, 2009)

Lady Gaga has been involved with many activist movements since she rose to fame in 2008. However, most notably she has been very involved in activism against the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ campaign. One of her big activist movements was wearing the famous meat dress to the MTV Video Music Awards, there were many different interpretations of the dress, including Rojek (2002) suggesting that it could have been considered a ‘feminist movement’, she could have worn the dress to represent how women are treated in the music industry: like a piece of meat. However, she later stated that it was in support of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. The policy meant that LGBTQ+ people who were serving in the US military were unable to disclose their sexuality or talk about their relationships (even if they were married etc).

Lady Gaga, not only wore this dress in support of a repeal of this policy, she also posted a video of her trying to phone her senator to demand change (but she is unable to get through), she encourages her fans to ‘phone their senators to ask them to vote for the repeal of the policy’. (Framing, 2013) Her fans did this, some getting through and some not, but they not only posted online of themselves phoning their senators, but they also encouraged their friends and family to do the same. By doing this Lady Gaga, not only reached her fans, but she reached a wider audience in trying to repeal this policy. Later on, the policy was finally repealed.

“However, the use of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Tumblr by celebrities to communicate with their fans is now becoming an increasingly widespread occurrence”

Duit, L; Zwaan, K (2014)

However, there are always risks when associating celebrities with a charity or a movement. This is clearly seen by Naomi Campbell’s association with PETA. She appeared on an advert stating, “we’d rather go naked than wear fur”. After this, she wore fur at the Milan Fashion show in 1997, she claimed: “it’s only fashion, I don’t know what the fuss is about”. PETA lost all credibility for their campaign and to this day the battle between PETA and Naomi Campbell still rages.

Bibliography:

Duit, L; Zwaan, K (2014) The Ashgate Research companion to Fan Cultures, Farnham: Ashgate

Framing, RE (2013) Examining celebrity activism and social media: Lady Gaga Fandom and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Accessed online 25^th March 2019 http://reframe.sussex.ac.uk/activistmedia/2013/05/examining-celebrity-activism-and-social-media-lady-gaga-fandom-and-dont-ask-dont-tell/

Rojek, C (2002) Fame Attack: The inflation of Celebrity and its consequences, London: Routledge

Samman, E, Auliffe, EM, MacLachlan, M (2009) The role of celebrity in endorsing poverty reduction through international aid. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing

The global hashtag activism campaign #BlackLivesMatter was born when George Zimmerman was acquitted after shooting and killing Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old boy. This hashtag became symbolic to all modern-day racial injustices and it allowed audiences to take to social media to try and enact change. The hashtag has had a global reach, it reached audiences all around the world, for example in Ireland, England, The Netherlands, Germany, and South Africa and many other countries gathered for rallies and protests in response to #BlackLivesMatter. The hashtag since has been used nearly 30 million times in the 5 years since which is over 17,000 times a day. Due to the global reach that this was able to have, it made a great impact.

“The increased visibility of such deaths through social media had led to the emergence of #BlackLivesMatter” (The Routledge companion to media and activism edited by G Meikle, page 1)

Meikle (2018)

Research showed that Caucasian’s bias in favour of their own race decreased when the major events of #BlackLivesMatter and its high points of struggle. This may be because when the high points of this movement, people are able to identify, and it allows the audience to empathise. America also implemented legislation changes in response to the movement, in twenty-four states they passed at least 40 new measures addressing such things as officer-worn cameras and education and training about racial bias along with independent investigations when police use force.

“the accessibility of the associated media also allows for connections between movements and activists around the world”

Highfield (2016)

This hashtag has been prevalent online for over five years, proving that not only is it relevant, but there is still a long way to go in changing racial attitudes globally. It is only right that as technology evolves, so should activism. As new platforms emerge, there are more ways to communicate which also means there are more ways to spread activism, and hashtag activism has proven to be an effective way in enacting change and education.

“Facebook does amplify activism for the same reason it amplifies photos of puppies. Items that strike people’s emotions are more likely to generate responses and more likely to be shared”

Vaidhyanathan (2018)

Bibliography:

Dijck, J (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A critical history of social media, New York: Oxford University Press

Highfield, T (2016) Social media and everyday politics Cambridge: Polity Press

Meikle, G (2018) The Routledge companion to media and activism London: Routledge

The Irish Times (2018) The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag used nearly 30 million times, Accessed 24th March 2019 https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/the-blacklivesmatter-hashtag-used-nearly-30-million-times-1.3561562

Vaidhyanathan, S (2018) Antisocial media: how Facebook disconnects us and undermines democracy, New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press