The Impact of Celebrity Endorsements
Everytime I turn on the news..another celebrity is proclaiming who they're endorsing for President. My question is...What impact do celebrities have on the general public? Josh and I were discussing this, and we've concluded that celebrities most likely have little impact on the ultimate vote of the majority. Other more powerful factors include, but are not limited to: party affiliation, general ideologies, family's affiliation, and one's socio-economic background. But a positive aspect of celebrity endorsements is the money that is given and allocated towards the candidate's campaign. Just last weekend, Barbara Streisand was featured in a concert/fundraiser, among other celebrities, that raised a fair amount of money for Barack Obama. So what's your take? Do you think that celebrities have any significant impact on one's vote?
Obama Endorsers: Matt Damon, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Scarlet Johansson, Lindsay Lohan, Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Hulk Hogan, Sean Penn, Jean-Claude Van Damm, Kim Kardashian, Nelly, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron, Sheryl Crow, Michael Moore
McCain Endorsers: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Forbes, Kelsey Grammar, Angie Harmon/ Jason Sehorn, Heidi Montag, Clint Eastwood, The Hiltons, Gretchen Wilson, Leann Rimes, Charlie Daniels, Sammy Hagar
Some Web Links:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/17/forbes-tracker-celebs-oped-cx_daa_1017celebs.html
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?artid=%7CcyY%7CdgbWuU=&Title=Obama+has+more+stars+than+McCain&SectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&MainSectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&SectionName=VfE7I/Vl8os=&SEO=
posted by Mallory @ 9:50 PM
6 Comments:
Does anyone care what a celebrity has to say about politics? Can we take them seriously and should we? Sure the people stuck in the trap of wanting nothing more than to be like some famous person, maybe those people would listen to a celebrity endorsement, however I think a majority of that population is under the age of 18 and thus cannot affect voting anyway. The thing is, perhaps America is superficial, and enough to listen to celebrity endorsements but personally I don’t see the point.
Even if a candidate is endorsed by a celebrity they cannot always acknowledge it. Siding with a celebrity gives them a chance of losing votes. Example. If I think that Jim Carey is a very poor actor (which I don't that's why this is an example) and I see a picture of Jim and a candidate I may be turned off to that candidate. Ok so sure I guess earlier this year Obama was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and she may have affected the primaries but besides this the candidates make money off a variety of celebrities and of course they appreciate that.
So why we aren't talking about the economy I don't know, especially since we may be heading for our next depression. Some feel they don't have to pay attention to that, perhaps because we have this mentality that government doesn't affect our daily lives. What happens when it does? The problem is much bigger than it looks. We are over 8 trillion dollars in debt. The 8 looks to small how about this --$8,000,000,000,000-- that's how much this government owes. Most of that money was borrowed from China. How will we ever pay that back? How long before China realizes that they own us? It's depressing to think about it. If we say that America has 300,000,000 people that means that if everyone paid around $26,000 to the government we would break even. You can surely see the problem with this, I don't see a baby paying $26,000 to the government. Now 8 was the last number that I saw, however the recent stock market bail out has been appraised to be well over a trillion more.
Josh-- Thank you for your optimistic outlook on celebrity endorsements and the ailing economy. It really brightened up my night! :)
P.S.-- I don't have $26,000 either.
I completely agree with Josh on this one. The only thing celebrities care about is making money and most importantly, who will be their next spouse or sleeping partner. The vast majority of celebrites don't know much about politics at all because they've never had to. How could you take a celebrity like Snoop a Loop Home Dog or Brittany Spears seriously?
My thinking is that the media is out to make it seem as if we truly care about what a celebrity's political views. In reality, I think/hope that people wouldn't let the opinions of celebrities sway their own vote.
Speak for yourself because I base my decisions on what Oprah tells me.
Oh yes the wisdom of Oprah...if you miss that show, just roll a magic 8 ball...you won't miss anything.
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