Devoted to show business and the entertainment industry

There is the continual involvement of celebrities in using their fame to tout their favorite political flavor.

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Of course a lot of this is simple agent-inspired tactics to keep their names in the media for the purpose of remaining a sought-after commodity. 

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With the public obsession with the continuous foibles of the celebrity set, it is to me an extension of that curiosity, and just another form of entertainment. After all, for the most part, they are just acting when they are ranting in front of the microphones.

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Thomas Segel comments on an article by Jake Brennen called “Hollytics: From Hollywood To Politics”. It is Brennen’s argument that if a celebrity takes a public position on something that it will carry more influence than if regular citizens or public figures way in on the same issue. He says this:

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“Let’s not be naive here”, when it comes to being heard, some citizens are more equal than others. Editorials criticize public policy every day to no particular fanfare, but when Sean Penn spouts off about George W. Bush’s policies in a full page letter in the Washington Post, the entertainment world - and, in turn, a very large public - takes notice.”

While there have been polls, although a little dated, that have asked if people pay attention to, or are influence by the political statements made by celebrities, and the overall response was overwhelmingly that we weren’t . Almost 90% said that celebrities had no influence whatever. 

As a matter of fact I tend to think that it’s the opposite. With the recent implementation of the Davie-Brown Index, an evaluation index for the purpose of determining a “celebrity’s relevance to a brand’s image and their influence on consumer-buying behavior,” it seems that there is more of a check upon what celebrities say than before. 

In other words there is a concern among marketers of what celebrities may or may not fit in with the product they want to put forth. So in a sense it is the celebrities who are really being watched more now for the purpose of making sure the things they say and do won’t hurt the image that a company is trying to wrap their product of service around. 

It is my thought that nobody is really influenced by what a celebrity says other than they would be if they were discussing it with a friend or colleague. But for the celebrity it is increasingly becoming a possible liability for them to use their fame to push their views on other people. Most of the public wants them to save their acting for the screen, not the community forum.