The Biggest Show on Earth The 2008 U.S.Election
A Real Man Just Can't Deny a Woman's Worth
With everyone from the Olsen twins to Miley Cyrus starting their own fashion label, and everyone from Josh Hartnett to Gwyneth Paltrow flogging the rest, marketing companies know the pros and cons of celebrity endorsement. It has dethroned product placement as the preferred method of promotion.
Never was this more evident than in last year's U.S election, in which we witnessed a deluge of media-savvy politicians desperately recruiting household names to help them push their cause. In our increasingly celebrity-focused society celebrity endorsements have become a firm fixture of presidential campaigns. But how much do they, or should they, affect who people choose to vote for?
In recent times we’ve seen an unprecedented number of celebrities getting in touch with their inner patriotism, by vocally aligning themselves with a candidate. After Barack Obama accepted his nomination at the Democratic National Convention last August, Oprah Winfrey tearfully proclaimed on television that “He's not an African-American candidate. He's a candidate for Americans.” When Chuck Norris announced his support for former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, Huckabee cheekily boasted that “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse – he tells America how it’s gonna be.”
While it arguably did wonders for Obama’s campaign to have the Oprah Winfrey stamp of approval, what sort of message is this sending to voters about the state of contemporary politics, when presidential candidates are openly boasting about having the backing of famous movie stars?
Oprah is merely the latest in a long line of celebrities using their star power to push a political agenda. In 2003 Natalie Maines, of the Dixie Chicks, made an off-the-cuff remark about hating George W. Bush at a concert. This spontaneous outburst nearly cost the Dixie Chicks their career. The slogan adopted by the media in regards to the incident was “shut up and sing,”, plainly stating that performers should stick to what they’re good at. However, if anyone can beat the odds, it’s Oprah.
Oprah's Influence on People
It couldn’t be easier to quantify what an endorsement from Oprah means: Her book club shoots novels to the bestseller list and a simple nod at a product sends droves of consumers to the stores. When Oprah, who has a long history of product endorsement, announced in 2007 that she would be supporting presidential candidate Barack Obama, few could have imagined the lengths she would go to in helping to make Obama the next American President. From raising over $3 million for his campaign to giving televised testimonials throughout America, it’s clear that Oprah is a woman of influence.
With Oprah’s attention devoted solely to Obama, his opponent, John McCain, also jumped on the celebrity bandwagon, recruiting the support of Rocky himself, with Sylvester Stallone asserting on FOX news that “I like McCain a lot. Reality is brutal like an action film and you need somebody who’s been in that to deal with it.” Who wouldn’t be moved by that kind of praise?
Celebrity Endoresements Aren't Always Effective
Actually, a lot more people than you’d think. The Pew Centre for the People and the Press, an American research firm, survey voters about the effect of celebrity endorsements every election year, and the results are surprisingly negative. It seems that while people are happy to help put Stallone’s ‘Rambo’ at number one at the Box Office, they’re not going to vote for someone just because he tells them to. Centre director Andy Kohut says that “There are some things that people will take their cues from celebrities on and other things they won't. If Bill Gates suggested something about technology, then that’s interesting. But a choice between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani? I'm not so sure.”
So why do politicians continue to seek celebrity endorsement? It appears that while they may not have any legitimate pulling power when it comes to who people vote for, they can do wonders at building name recognition, and helping voters better understand the issues being campaigned for. People like Oprah Winfrey and Chuck Norris may not know everything there is to know about politics, but they do know how to work a crowd, and that’s precisely what politicians like Obama are looking for.
Steve Ross, of the history department at the University of Southern California, says that celebrity endorsements stem from the need to ‘humanise’ politicians, explaining that, “The basic idea behind celebrity politics is that people weren’t getting to know politicians… But they see and know movie stars, so the link between celebrity and politics is the same as it's always been - drawing attention to a candidate,”, and with Obama’s acceptance speech blitzing the ratings, with a reported 38.4 million people tuning in, it’s clear that Oprah is doing exactly that.
If last year's election is anything to go by, celebrity endorsements will continue to remain a key feature of political campaigns. Show-business is big business, and with the American film industry generating over $2 billion a year, it’s clear that Americans love their actors.
Presidential candidates have always tried putting on a show to impress voters, and while people may not look to celebrities for political advice, celebrities are skilled attention-grabbers and their endorsement can do just that: Make people sit up and take notice.
Obama and Oprah
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