When election season rolls around celebrities step out of their world of parties and paparazzi and into the world of politics, promises, and power. Suddenly, Sean Combs (a.k.a P.Diddy and Puff Daddy) puts down the Crystal and tells kids to “Vote or Die,” and Paris Hilton dresses her Chihuahua in red, white, and blue. Some celebrities are passionately involved in causes, while others just hop on for the publicity driven ride. Celebrities are Americans with same democratic rights as you and me, yet the question lingers:
Should celebrities get involved in politics?
As a PR specialist I feel quite torn on this issue. On the one hand I think it is great for celebrities to use their influence over the masses to highlight our most liberating right as citizens of a democracy. How wonderful for celebrities to try to get the public as interested in changing the world as it is in the wacky adventures of Britney Spears. The more risk-averse side of me, however, would warn my clients to beware of the political bug. Public appearances in an arena most celebrities aren’t qualified to address can often produce more negative backlash than positive feedback. I’d encourage my clients to vote, but to also understand that it is not in their job description to promote or bash political candidates-especially if they are not informed and well versed on the issues.
In light of the upcoming campaign, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas put together a video supporting Barack Obama on www.dipdive.com. Apparently, Obama had nothing do to with the video, and didn’t even know about it until it was getting hits on the Internet. The video features, will.i.am, Scarlett Johanssen, Kareem Abdul Jabar, Common, John Legend, Tatyana Ali, Taryn Manning, Kate Walsh…and the list goes on. The actors and musicians speak/sing the words of a speech Barack Obama gave in New Hampshire, and their images and voices are juxtaposed with actual speech footage. This video is affecting people all over the world. Just today there have been over thirty comments posted.
Some celebrities obviously “fit” into the world of politics better than others, and celebrity activism is nothing new. A generation of musicians: Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles have given their gift of song to political efforts. Michael J. Fox campaigns for stem cell research, and hyper-adopter Angelina Jolie addresses numerous international environment, poverty and development issues. The award for greatest “celebritician” of all time could go to Governator Arnold Schwarznegger, U2’s Bono, or Ronald Regan who we mustn’t forget was an actor before he was a president.
There is commentary after the video, and this scares me a little as a publicist. A catchy song and video is one thing, but advocating opinions is much riskier. In this case though, I like most of the commentary. It is well scripted and most of the celebrities sound smart and genuinely passionate. All in all, this video is inspiring and encouraging. Although I think Johanssen could have had an ulterior motive (to show people that she can sing), I applaud the celebrities involved and the message they promoted. The video is tastefully done, and although it supports Obama, it also encourages people to believe in hope, change, and in the power of a vote. While I think tagging along on a campaign trail is too much (cough OPRAH), if my client approached me about this endeavor, I would proudly say, “Yes, you can.”
