It is obvious through the numerous celebrity magazines and tabloids that are sold daily in this country, that for the most part the average American citizen is concerned with what the select few "famous" people are doing. We love to see that they do normal activities like us, such as go to the grocery store, but we love it even more when they make a complete mess of their lives and we simply get to observe. It is also beginning to be more and more obvious that this fascination with celebrities is permeating the political realm as well. It is becoming national news when a celebrity announces which candidate it is endorsing, and a soundboard for discussions about what this means about the candidate.
For example, when Oprah announced that she would be endorsing Obama, her fan base was irate. The fact that she did not choose to support the female candidate angered many, and brought up the question of whether or not she was supporting Obama simply because he was black? Oprah is simply a person with her own opinion like everyone else, but her opinion seems to influence more people, then say mine would. This leads me to my main point about celebrity endorsements, which is the fact that most people say they are not influenced by what celebrities believe, but they do believe that other people are influenced by them...the third party affect.
In a clip on NPR about celebrity endorsements a scholar was asked about this phenomenon and he noted that while we as individuals do not believe that we are influenced by celebrities, we do believe that everyone else is influenced. I found this notion extremely interesting and completely accurate. Ironically, I thought the exact same thing when posed with the question of whether or not I weighed celebrity opinions in my own decisions. I thought "no, of course not, but I'm sure that many people in America do." When you break this down in reality, that means that a lot of people are, in actuality, influenced by such things as celebrity endorsements.
I think that if nothing else, American citizens can at least relate to a candidate by who or who does not endorse them. For example, almost all of Obama's supporters are young or "hip" celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson and George Clooney. On the other hand, celebrities such as Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have endorsed McCain, only adding to the list of middle aged white males that support him. As a voter, and one that claims to not be influenced by celebrity endorsements, I can if nothing else, relate to the group that supports Obama because I am young and further, I am not a middle aged male.
So all in all, even if a specific celebrity does not influence a voter one way or another, they can as a group act as guidelines for the general public. Overall, I think that the importance of celebrities in politics should not be overlooked, because it reality they have more impact then we give them credit for.
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2 comments:
Do you think celebrities have influence once their candidates are in The White House?
I think you're on to something here, in that a celebrity's main influence is to stereotype what kind of person supports each candidate. A lot of people believe that celebrity endorsements are influential, but it would be interesting to find out how much celebrities really impact the race. It probably depends on the celebrity and the kind of credibility he or she has.
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