The Efficacy of Celebrity Diplomacy

According to Andrew Cooper, diplomacy has three dimensions in addressing communication, representation, and reproduction of international society. Successful diplomacy is defined as having a sense of purpose, the ability to interact with high-ranking state representatives, and be of global outreach. Usually celebrities, whether Hollywood or corporate “stars,” are self-appointed and lack a mandate to become an active global player. They usually have charisma and the funds to advocate their respective cause, or know who the movers and shakers are to get their cause recognized and financially supported. Cooper mentioned that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded $1.55 billion in charitable work in 2005 and compared it to the World Health Organization’s budget of $1.65 billion in 2007. Of course, we also must remember that Bill Gates is among the world’s richest people, and charity is a means of tax reduction. While Bill and Melinda Gates are in a position to hire experts to handle their foundation, not all celebrities have training or expertise on the causes they are championing. Often international organizations, such as special branches of the United Nations, will hire celebrities to draw attention to their causes. This also provides the celebrity with a credibility factor of doing good work and the resulting lime light might help their repudiation and career.

Being associated with a celebrity might result in negative media coverage and embarrassment to an organization and cause if his or her behavior does not fit the requested profile. On the other hand, there are celebrities, such as Bono, who seem untouchable to any criticism. Bono has teamed up with U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs, who has a one-dimensional vision for solving Africa’s problems: give Africa aid, waive its debt, and provide education. Aid in itself will not accomplish anything if African people are not trained to help themselves. Also, is this aid based on what foreigners think Africa needs or is it based on what Africans think they need? Do African countries have the institutions and infrastructure in place to use aid monies efficiently, without it sinking and disappearing in a river of corruption and unauthorized uses? Dieter and Kumar also pointed out that Bono’s DATA (Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa) organization has no African board members and only one of five offices is actually located in Africa.

I agree that celebrity diplomats can be very effective in raising both awareness and funds; however, in order to evaluate their effectiveness and efficiency, I would like to see financial and performance reports that provide measure specific objectives and their progress of implementation. Neither reading allows me to make that determination

 

 

References:

Andrew F. Cooper, “Beyond Hollywood and the Boardroom: Celebrity Diplomacy,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs (2007).

Heribert Dieter and Rajiv Kumar, “The Downside of Celebrity Diplomacy: The Neglected Complexity of Development,” Global Governance 14 (2008).