Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture And Political Representation

In recent years, many celebrities have been seen mingling with politicians causing a huge amount of media attention for both bodies. “Political actors co-opt celebrities’ fame to motivate people to cast votes for them, as well as to influence their attitudes and voting tendencies (Christian von Sikorski, Johannes Knoll & Jörg Matthes (2018) A New Look at Celebrity Endorsements in Politics: Investigating the Impact of Scandalous Celebrity Endorsers and Politicians’ Best Responses, Media Psychology, 21:3, 403, DOI: 10. 1080/15213269. 2017. 1378109). For a politician, mingling with a well-known celebrity enhances their image and allows them to communicate their message to a larger audience. Celebrities are hugely influential and depending on who it is, they may have a large following which could affect the political view for many people. For example, Beyoncé’s relationship and support for Obama positively influenced Obama during his election time. This would have brought together Beyoncé’s fans, who didn’t really have an interest in politics or who was borderline when voting for Obama, to vote for Obama.

Another example is “Tony Blair posing with the England football team” (Street, J. (2004). Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation. Political Studies, Vol 6, 437. doi:10. 1111/j. 1467-856X. 2004. 00149. x) to gain attention and popularity. Celebrities “use their status and the medium within which they work to speak out on specific causes and for particular interests with a view to influencing political outcomes”. For example, Bono who was campaigning to reduce third world debt by sharing audiences with President George W. Bush, President Chirac and Pope John Paul. Some politicians are adopting “tactics from movie stars” which can cause quite a bit of controversy because it’s not their usual technique or expertise. For example, during the 2002 French presidential campaign, the left-wing party Lutte Ouvriere enforced waiting lists and the interviewer only got to ask three timed questions (Street, J. (2004). Celebrity Politicians: Popular Culture and Political Representation. Political Studies, Vol 6, 438. doi:10. 1111/j. 1467-856X. 2004. 00149. x). ConsequencesCelebrities and politicians are still coming together, even if it causes bad publicity for one body. “For instance, various pornographic actors and directors publicly expressed their support for Hillary Clinton throughout the 2016 primaries, and unsurprisingly, many Clinton voters disapproved those endorsements (Christian von Sikorski, Johannes Knoll & Jörg Matthes (2018) A New Look at Celebrity Endorsements in Politics: Investigating the Impact of Scandalous Celebrity Endorsers and Politicians’ Best Responses, Media Psychology, 21:3, 404, DOI: 10. 1080/15213269. 2017. 1378109)”.

This can be quite controversial and can cause Hillary to degrade in voters, however, she did not respond to the issue. Celebrities getting involved with politics can end up being bad for society. Young people see celebrities as idols and would follow in their steps rather than using their own common sense and thinking about what they truly believe. Many celebrities, particularly young celebrities, tend to make rational decisions without doing their proper research. This can cause many issues, including young people being misinformed on a certain topic. Studies show that “the turnout of voters below 25 in British general elections declined dramatically”. This shows that “young people are less interested in politics or public affairs.