Celebrity activism isn’t anything new, famous folk we love have been taking the media by storm for decades paying into or spending time focusing on things that they think are important causes and bringing more attention and money to helping solve the problems. But, what is this really like for an impact and who does it benefit? Let’s talk about the global and local impact of celebrity activism and philanthropy.
Celebrities often make deals and statements regarding concerning world problems that they want to “help” throughout each year. Some have even begun founding or paying heavy amounts into main charity corporations and nonprofits. But, what does this actually do for these celebs and for what they’re working towards?
On a statistic side of things, modern celebrity philanthropy only really benefits the celebrities doing it. It gives them a positive media attention for their coming business or career choices, helps them have tax write-offs, and continues getting the public to pay attention to them overall throughout the years.
But, many celebrity nonprofits have proven to do little to nothing in actually helping improve the situation they’re working on. And there have been multiple cases where celebs bring activism to a cause just for show or to abandon the project the second the media stops talking about it. That’s not to say all are bad, but it is a common thread you notice.
Activism is something that can be really helpful. It can draw attention to major issues and struggles, bring better earnings to those that need it, and fund important research or change for the world. But this is only the case when it’s done carefully and properly. Some charities don’t specify how they use funds, use funds carefully, or actually improve anything.
Helping is something that we can all empathize with. And helping those in need is a worthy cause we all want to help with. It’s not something that celebs can just throw money at though, and often things aren’t really pledged like celebs claim either. The people on the lower level genuinely working for change are who make the bigger impact.
Regardless, some celebs do actually tend to work hard on philanthropic causes and create their own change in the world. You can often find the data to back up their impact and help and notice in how they discuss or don’t discuss this work throughout their efforts too. And some big contributions and efforts from famous folk really have made differences over the decades.
Realistically we can’t be expected to double and triple check the facts behind each and every activist cause we see online or on the media, so it’s not on you to always fact-check this. But it seems that this trend will continue with how popular celeb activism has become, and it could mean a lot of publicity for folk that don’t truly do anything to improve the globe.
While activism is something that can be incredibly useful in lives of many different regions of the world, we have to pay close attention to what is actually helpful and what isn’t. There are plenty of ways to get involved in a positive way as anybody, without having to have the intense influence or money that celebs have. And there are ways that those up high can help, but there’s a lot to learn and be cautious of too.