Celebrities and overseas aid. Publicity or goodwill?
It seems that more celebrities are getting involved in overseas aid. Angelina Jolie has been an United Nations Ambassador for a long time. I saw a picture of Madonna in Africa promoting AIDS awareness and just recently Nicole Kidman went to Kosovo as a United Nations Ambassador.
There are two stories that I found about Nicole Kidman.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/14/AR2006101400670.html
http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1546425,00.html
I often wonder if these celebrities are doing this because they really care or because it is another way for them to get their name in the media. I also wonder why organizations, like the United Nations, decide to use these celebrities to work on behalf of their causes. Is it because they know celebrities draw media attention, so it is the easiest way for them to get media attention for their cause? Maybe I am just being cynical, but I don’t believe a lot of celebrities do anything unless it benefits them.
To me, there are other ways to get media attention for United Nations work in other parts of the world. There may also be better qualified people, other than celebrities, to be United Nations Ambassadors.
posted by Anonymous @ 10/18/2006 09:57:00 AM
5 Comments:
Celebrities will do almost anything to elevate their status in the public’s eye…and nothing screams “I’m a good person” more than attachment to a humanitarian cause.
But I have a hard time buying into Nicole Kidman being named a UN ambassador. I realize she hasn’t been in the media much lately, with much attention being dedicated to ex-husband Tom. But how did her publicist come up with this as a way to get her name back out there? She took a page from the Angelina Jolie handbook, clearly! But how is Nicole possibly connected to Kosovo? Because her mom saw a story on it and recommended to her daughter to get involved? She was “cheered by onlookers” on the way to her hotel. But why? Does she get down on her hands and knees to help rebuild the war-torn country? No, she is just there to “tour” the area. Natalie Portman is involved in humanitarian causes and awareness campaigns for Israel. Why? Because she was born in Jerusalem, still has family there and visits frequently. I can see the connection there, but not for Nicole.
Of course, the celebrities aren’t totally to blame. As the text states in Chapter 1, coverage of humanitarian efforts can come from “the charitable organization’s director of donor relations and development.” Clearly, someone at the UN sat down and thought, “Who best can we get to help us raise interest in Kosovo again?” Non-profit and charitable organizations have a difficult enough time getting the media, and by extension, people interested in their causes, why shouldn’t they link to celebrities…a natural connection in our celebrity-obsessed culture? But they must be careful to at least make a logical connection. Even then, the celebrities need to get down and dirty – feed babies, build houses – and not just stand behind a podium and announce to the world that it should care about this cause. There needs to be some newsworthiness and genuineness to these relationships.
A good example of what a mutually-beneficial relationship can do for both the celebrity and the organization, can be found on this site:
http://www.ahepburn.com/
This is an interesting situation, and I think it is hard to tell who is genuine and who is not when it comes to celebrity charity. I do not think all of them do it only for personal gain, many I’m sure are genuine. (For example, I think Bono is genuine, see my post from last week!) But in many cases, I’m sure personal gains contribute to what they do and do not do. However, by using celebrities to pitch ideas, it makes it easy to garner publicity and reach a certain type of public. I for one really could not care if a celebrity has anything to with a cause, I’ll support it if I believe in it. On the other hand, there is another public who would be extremely influenced by what Nicole Kidman has to say, or another celebrity. Non-profits and activist cause usually have limited amounts of resources, so getting a celebrity to promote the cause helps gain national and fiscal attention. Cutlip says, “nonprofit organizations recognize the importance of effective public relations and have come to rely on it. Without effective public relations, many nonprofits would have to close their doors…” (pg. 463). Of course the UN has many more resources than other nonprofits, but they are trying to get people to pay attention to what they are doing by involving celebrities.
over the counter viagra viagra online uk cheapest viagra viagra for sale without a prescription viagra faq viagra england cialis levia and viagra cheap viagra canada cheap viagra tablets buy viagra in england cialis super viagra cheapest place to buy viagra online homemade viagra viagra prices
Great Site. Was added to mybookmarks. Greetings From USA.
Hey,
I keep coming to this website[url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips].[/url]You have really contiributed very good info here gatorpr.blogspot.com. Let me tell you one thing guys, some time we really forget to pay attention towards our health. Are you really serious about your weight?. Recent Scientific Research indicates that closely 70% of all U.S. adults are either chubby or weighty[url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips].[/url] So if you're one of these people, you're not alone. Its true that we all can't be like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox, and have sexy and perfect six pack abs. Now next question is how you can achive quick weight loss? [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips]Quick weight loss[/url] is not like piece of cake. Some improvement in of daily activity can help us in losing weight quickly.
About me: I am blogger of [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/lose-10-pounds-in-2-weeks-quick-weight-loss-tips]Quick weight loss tips[/url]. I am also health expert who can help you lose weight quickly. If you do not want to go under painful training program than you may also try [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/acai-berry-for-quick-weight-loss]Acai Berry[/url] or [url=http://www.weightrapidloss.com/colon-cleanse-for-weight-loss]Colon Cleansing[/url] for effortless weight loss.
Post a Comment
<< Home