Celebrities: Untapped Potential
By Makayla Comas
The average American spends 32 minutes a day watching television, an hour using the Internet on a computer, an hour and seven minutes on a smartphone and two hours, 46 minutes listening to the radio. This gives companies and industries optimal time to pitch their products to a targeted audience. Now more than ever society is feeling the impacts of media in their daily lives. More importantly, the actions of celebrities are looked up to and are put on a pedestal. We need to look at how industries, companies, and celebrities could use those 34 hours to influence the public to do something productive.
Today the public knows celebrities more for the products that they pitch and the movies that they are in more than the work that they do to make the world a better place. Some people even get surprised when they find out that a celebrity is associated with a particular cause. But there are celebrities who are prominent activists. Leonardo Dicaprio is a well-known environmentalist who works to protect tigers, save sharks, and stop the poaching of elephants for ivory. Dicaprio was seen standing up for what he believed in with the public at the People’s Climate March in September. Another celebrity that is well known for her philanthropy/ charity work is Oprah Winfrey. One of the main things that she has done is in 2007 she made the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. With 72 girls from all nine provinces of South Africa coming from hard economical and social backgrounds the school is state of the art and sets high standards for the girls.
Then there is Angelina Jolie. Some may argue that her mere presence on the planet is enough charity but the work that she has done in addition to acting is something remarkable and applaudable. In Ethiopia she and her husband, Brad Pitt set up the Zahara’s Children Center which aims to treat and take care of children with HIV in the country. In 2006 the Jolie- Pitt Foundation was formed which focused on humanitarian aid around the world. From Doctor’s without Borders, Global Action for Children, working with the UN, and working in Iraq and Darfur Angelina has been truly active. In 2013, she won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Award.
We don't have enough celebrities like Oprah, Leonardo Dicaprio, Angelina Jolie, and Harry Belafonte who work to better the world that we live in. We need more people like them to shift the status quo of celebrities pitching the ideas of consumerism, artificial beauty, and the “fuck bitches, get more money” concept to the public. There is a need for this business as usual cycle to stop. Otherwise, many of the changes that Americans want to see in this world will not happen.
Celebrities have an untapped potential to mobilize the public. Just think, if Kim Kardashian started to wear recyclable and sustainable clothing just think about the amount of people that worship her that will do the same thing as well. With the power of celebrities and social media there is potential for the American public pushing for major change.
[Photo, Leonardo DiCaprio, by Greg McNevin licensed by CC BY-NC 2.0]
By Makayla Comas
The average American spends 32 minutes a day watching television, an hour using the Internet on a computer, an hour and seven minutes on a smartphone and two hours, 46 minutes listening to the radio. This gives companies and industries optimal time to pitch their products to a targeted audience. Now more than ever society is feeling the impacts of media in their daily lives. More importantly, the actions of celebrities are looked up to and are put on a pedestal. We need to look at how industries, companies, and celebrities could use those 34 hours to influence the public to do something productive.
Today the public knows celebrities more for the products that they pitch and the movies that they are in more than the work that they do to make the world a better place. Some people even get surprised when they find out that a celebrity is associated with a particular cause. But there are celebrities who are prominent activists. Leonardo Dicaprio is a well-known environmentalist who works to protect tigers, save sharks, and stop the poaching of elephants for ivory. Dicaprio was seen standing up for what he believed in with the public at the People’s Climate March in September. Another celebrity that is well known for her philanthropy/ charity work is Oprah Winfrey. One of the main things that she has done is in 2007 she made the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. With 72 girls from all nine provinces of South Africa coming from hard economical and social backgrounds the school is state of the art and sets high standards for the girls.
Then there is Angelina Jolie. Some may argue that her mere presence on the planet is enough charity but the work that she has done in addition to acting is something remarkable and applaudable. In Ethiopia she and her husband, Brad Pitt set up the Zahara’s Children Center which aims to treat and take care of children with HIV in the country. In 2006 the Jolie- Pitt Foundation was formed which focused on humanitarian aid around the world. From Doctor’s without Borders, Global Action for Children, working with the UN, and working in Iraq and Darfur Angelina has been truly active. In 2013, she won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Award.
We don't have enough celebrities like Oprah, Leonardo Dicaprio, Angelina Jolie, and Harry Belafonte who work to better the world that we live in. We need more people like them to shift the status quo of celebrities pitching the ideas of consumerism, artificial beauty, and the “fuck bitches, get more money” concept to the public. There is a need for this business as usual cycle to stop. Otherwise, many of the changes that Americans want to see in this world will not happen.
Celebrities have an untapped potential to mobilize the public. Just think, if Kim Kardashian started to wear recyclable and sustainable clothing just think about the amount of people that worship her that will do the same thing as well. With the power of celebrities and social media there is potential for the American public pushing for major change.
[Photo, Leonardo DiCaprio, by Greg McNevin licensed by CC BY-NC 2.0]