Africa: Has the Continent Benefited from the ‘Awkward Embrace’ of Celebrities?
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 01.04.07 | 1:26 PM ET
When movie stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie travel to Africa, performing good deeds and drawing attention to the plight of the continent’s poorest, what does it really accomplish? Chris Tenove addresses the question in a terrific story in this month’s issue of The Walrus.“Why do celebrities campaign for Africa’s poor?” Tenove writes. “Self-promotion plays a role. In the competitive arena of stardom, you can’t afford to stand aside while your peers burnish their halos before the camera’s adoring gaze. It’s not as if celebrities need to go looking for causes, however. Causes come looking for them. Non-governmental organizations compete for publicity, government contracts, and charity dollars, and a celebrity endorsement can mean as much to an aid organization as it does to a sportswear manufacturer. But a more profound motivation lies at the heart of celebrity involvement.” Tenove’s story traces the phenomenon of celebrity involvement in Africa back to a 1984 BBC news report seen by the then little-known rock star, Bob Geldof.
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
ianmack 01.04.07 | 5:02 PM ET
brilliant article, thanks for pointing it out. it’s hard to think that Bono and Jolie shouldn’t campaign as hard as they do, after all, as the article suggests at the end: what are we left with? an africa entirely forgotten by the rest of the world? sure, it would be better if real political action took their place but politicians only seem interested in the photo ops.