Influence

"Age of Celebrity"

Anybody could see that in today's age, people are obsessed with the idea of being a celebrity. Men and women in the spotlight get special treatment and are idolized by the general public. As of recently, celebrities have even had a say in what is going on in the political world. This is a commercial that I came across one night while I was watching TV. In my personal opinion, this type of thing should not happen. It is not a commercial that highlights the things that President Obama would do for this country if he were to be elected for a second term of presidency. Instead, it appeals to any fans of Sarah Jessica Parker and makes it seem like she is very close friends with the Obama family. So close that they have dinners together. The commercial encourages its viewers to go to JoinObama.com in order to enter for a chance to attend this dinner. In a way, this is a good idea because it promotes getting involved with the president, but the only thing it evokes in my mind is, "this has to be a joke." President Obama and his campaign managers, who essentially make campaign decisions for him, are taking advantage of the profound influence that celebrities have on the public. In this commercial he is mixing what it means to be a president and what it means to be a celebrity. The only relation that this has to Obama's presidency is the opening lines where Sarah Jessica Parker says, "The guy who ended the war in Iraq, the guy who says you should be able to marry anyone you want, and the guy who created 4 million new jobs, that guy..." She then proceeds to talk about their dinner and all political talk is ended. A campaign commercial should be about the issues and what is being done to alleviate problems. 

Celebrities hold the incredible ability to gain a following and persuade people to join a cause. This is dangerous in politics because, at some point, nobody knows why they are voting for a certain person. They just figure that their favorite celebrity is promoting a certain political figure, so they must stand for something that would help this country. Darrell M. West, professor of public policy and political science at Brown University, believes that this political system is based on superficial celebrity worship and it is not good for the nation. He believes this to the extent that he actually wrote an entire essay which is titled "Rich Celebrities Have Too Much Political Influence" and it goes into detail about how the people in this country would do anything if it meant being just like their celebrity idol. Not only that, but how politicians have began to mimic celebrities. This comes mainly from the lack of trust that the general public shows for their politicians. Politicians form alliances with the big named celebrities in order to raise money, attract attention from the media, and persuade any voters who seem to be on the fence. They mostly pick from the athletes, musicians, and actors because their fame comes from somewhere that is outside the political world. This idea was key in the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of California in 2003. He campaigned for change and said that due to his life and time outside of the political world, he was better equipped to bring change. Whether he won because of his actual campaign or because of his celebrity status, it is hard to tell. But either way, he was an actor who used his status to gain political support and gave career politicians a look at what kind of influence a celebrity can have on a mass of people. 


The influence that the media has on politics today is unreal. Politicians have Facebook pages and Twitters in order to keep people interested in their campaign. The Twitter page of our president Barack Obama* is actually run by his 2012 campaign staff. In the description of his page, it states that anything that is tweeted directly from Obama himself is signed with "-bo" at the end. In scanning through the first page of his Twitter, only one tweet was signed by the president and it had nothing to do with his campaign or his political stance on anything that is an issue in this race. The tweet is simply, "I'm the President of the United States, and it was only about 8 years ago that I finished paying off my student loans. - President Obama." What this says about his page is that he is trying to get the younger vote by being more personable. He is trying to convey a message that says even though he is the president, he has debt too. There were about five tweets around the same time as this one that had to do with his views on student loans. All in all, he is not using this account to make serious points about his campaign. Twitter is a site that predominantly has accounts owned by teenagers and young people. Talking about student loans to people who are about to start or have already started college and are most likely in debt with their student loans. Barack Obama's Twitter fits the idea that GWU professor Matthew Hindman states in the article "Politicians Will Increase Their Usage of Social Media in the Future." He claims that the social media aspect of campaigns today is simply "window dressing" and that the accounts are there so that the candidates can say they have a Facebook or Twitter, not to accomplish any particular goals. This idea is supported by what was found out in a recent poll regarding contact with a politician via social media sites. An astonishing 89% of respondents admitted that they have never interacted directly with any of the politicians that they follow on social media websites. Only 2% said that they have frequent contact, 7% said occasional contact, and 2% said they made direct contact one time (Stanchak). Politicians claim that they have these accounts to keep in touch with their voters, but these statistics make it clear that they are not. Comparing this to the Twitter account of Mitt Romney*, there is a noticeable difference. Mitt Romney's Twitter is not run by his campaign team for the 2012 elections, but it is run by Romney himself. All of the tweets on the first page have direct relations to what he stands for and the things that he is planning on doing, if he is elected as president. This account actually holds a political influence on anybody who is following him, but just a starstruck influence. He retweets things from people who tweet to him and is very interactive with his account. In this way, media is a great outlet for a politician. Mitt Romney is an example of how to use a Twitter account responsibly and correctly in order to have a viable influence on the people who follow the account. This social media craze has influence on the politicians who use it and the voters who follow it.

*Both Twitter accounts were accessed on Friday, June 8, 2012*