Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Celebrity Influence
As I was looking through the New York Times website, I stumbled across the headline "Obama Event Includes Boxer Mayweather" which got me thinking. Do the endorsement of celebrities and athletes really influence the average American's decision on who to vote for? I can understand how the endorsement from interest group's leader can affect people with that certain point of view to vote similarly, but celebrities and athletes are merely entertainers. Because a celebrities endorsements of political leaders seem to make headlines on a weekly basis, it is logical to assume people actually do care about who George Clooney or Floyd Mayweather vote for. I wonder if the American people have become shallow enough (and maybe even dumb enough) to be influenced by an actor's attractiveness or a certain athlete's jump shot. Even though I may believe that Jessica Alba is the hottest actress on the planet, my vote for who the next president will not be the same as hers solely based on her endorsement. Society has become very superficial in recent times but do you think celebrities have this much control over people? Or do you think the media just makes it seem like celebrity endorsements are a big deal? POST IT.
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11 comments:
Dude I'd vote for whoever Jessica Alba told me to. No I'm just kidding. No but really I would....
If people really care about what Ethiopian kid Angelina Jolie is adopting this week then they would probably want to vote for whoever their favorite celebrity does as well. But is that really a bad thing? Many people cast their vote simply on which candidate is a more eloquent speaker or is better looking. Isn't that just as vain?
Americans have become denser than I thought.
Just because celebrities have a voice others will listen to, doesn't mean they are smarter.
One could make the arguement that being a celebrity is what got "Arnie" into politics and into the Governor's seat.
While it's not necessarily a good thing, politics often seems to be very superficially based. Sometimes it seems like some politicians are simply a face that gets elected, then follows the policies other people choose, just in their own, more eloquent way. An easy example of the superficial thinking of Americans is the Nixon-Kennedy debates, where Nixon was thought to have lost, simply because he looked worse on TV, even if his policies were no worse than Kennedy's. Hopefully this doesn't go so far as voting based on what your favorite celebrity votes for, but I could easily imagine it happening.
I don't think it's a matter of how shallow we've become. Many Americans have judged politics and voted for candidates based on the superficial, especially evident was the 1960 Kennedy v. Nixon debates.. which we saw on TV today.
And celebrity turnouts are a huge deal. But when haven't they been? Athletes get major money for being in a 20 second commercial clip, so imagine what an hour long rally would do!
In my opinion, the majority of Americans don't have the time or energy to research different view points of various candidates, and with celebrity endorsements, as long as more press about them, it becomes easier to win!
I don't think celebrity endorsements have that much effect on the actual elections. While there are some people who will be swayed by a simple celebrity endorsement, I don't think that they strongly affect enough people to make a large difference in actual politics.
I don't think that having celebrities influence the public vote is such a bad thing because they are often publicizing politics and bringing it to those who otherwise may not pay any attention to it at all. Maybe having these celebrities endorse certain candidates/political parties/issues or enforcing the importance of voting is a positive thing and is influencing people to actually pay a little more attention to politics rather than completely shy away from it.
I doubt that it really goes through anyone's head that "I'm going to vote for Jones because Smith [a celebrity] is, too"... but for certain people, I'm sure it affects their decision a little bit. Besides, it affects the campaign more in less direct ways; a feeling of legitimacy for trailing candidates like Obama, or perhaps just a feeling that a certain "crowd" is behind this particular politician.
I think that the media makes a big deal of celebrity endosements as a way to merge two huge news commonalities. but, i think that the media is not completely to blame for the conception that these endorsements are so important. The american people pay a lot of attention to the celebrity world (as exemplified by the volumes of gossip magaizines and "access holleywood" shows). Celebrities are common and are already in the public eye and so people will be drawn to that celebrity adn then in turn to the plotician standing next to them. I dont think people vote just based on celebrity endorsement but it does help to bring the voeters attention to the politicians.
I agree. I think celebrity endorsements are, at most, attention-grabbing techniques for politicians to spread voter awareness. For example, the headline Garrick cited, "Obama Event Includes Boxer Mayweather," did not actually mention the political views of Boxer Mayweather, but merely (and perhaps shamelessly) plugged in Mayweather's name.
I agree w/ Justin.
I think Brad Pitt endorsed Kerry in 2004, and he didn't win. I don't think most Americans relate to these celebrities, and most people who vote are not going to make a decision based on celebrity endorsements.
I think that candidates are getting celebrity endorsements because they attract more attention and media. Its basically all show, just to draw attention from more potential voters. I'm pretty sure that many celebrities do not know much about politics, but since many people look up to them as role models, whoever they vote for will get consideration from less knowledgeable voters.
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