Students at American University this week provided various perspectives of celebrities’ power in the media, explaining the influence their advocacy has on multiple issues including mental illness and the criminal justice system.
Amanda Luthy, 20, who is a senior, said she looks up to director Ava DuVernay. Luthy described DuVernay as a person who embodies female empowerment and is a role model for women of color, and Luthy said she is drawn to a message of her increasing diversity for people in media.
Lamar Smith, a teaching assistant in the Discover the World of Communication summer program, said he looks up to famous athletes including Chris Paul, who made Smith aware of Hurricane Harvey and police brutality.
“It enlightens you,” Smith said about learning about current events through celebrity involvement.
Although interviews on campus revealed the importance of celebrity advocacy for some teenagers, research shows that’s not always the case, with many turning to people they know rather than those they see on the screen.
“Young adults are less likely to trust the celebrity endorsement of a candidate or issue, and are more likely to trust the endorsement of someone they know,” according to Valerie R. O’Regan of The Department of Political Science at California State University. That work titled “The Celebrity Influence: Do People Really Care What They Think” was published in June 2014.
Sejung Marina Choi and Nora J. Rifon showed in their work that “personalities, lifestyles, appearances, and behaviors” are influenced the most rather than political views or social stances.
“Favorable responses to celebrity endorsements might occur only when consumers perceive the images or meanings the celebrities represent and convey as desirable,” the authors wrote in a 2007 Journal of Popular Culture article.