by Quentin Langley
Celebrities have a brand, and they have brand values. Vanessa-Mae is an extremely talented musician. Hillary Swank is an Oscar winning actor. Jean-Claude van Damme is a great martial artist, who brings considerable athleticism and talent to some rather fun films. But if their brand values can be rented to any tyrant who wants to buy them, what are they really worth?
All three of these celebs – if you have missed the news – appeared at the birthday party of Ramzan Kadyrov, the dictator of Chechnya. Kadyrov, among his many other sins, has supported men who attack women on the street for not wearing the veil.
The Columbian singer-songwriter, Shakira, was also invited to perform, and it seems as though she initially accepted, but then pulled out in protest against Kadyrov's human rights record. Shakira is also a campaigner for education, founding a charity developing schools in poor areas in Columbia, and writing about education for the poor in The Economist's World in 2010. She is plainly a celebrity with a brand that is vested in philanthropy and values. To have performed for a cruel and spiteful dictator would have left her fans rightly thinking that she had betrayed these values.
The three celebs who did go seem to be declaring to the world that their only brand values are performance and money. They will peform for money. While this blog has no objection to money and recognises that performers often simply like to perform – it is partly about loving their art – fans of these artists may well think a little less of them today.
On a smaller level, what is a celebrity's endorsement worth if it is simply sold to the highest bidder? Why should we care that an actor or singer says something positive about a brand if it is simply for an exchange of cash?
As Twitter moves towards pushing the #ad hashtag for sponsored tweets, people are going to press for greater openness and transparency. And the celebs who whored their talents for Karyrov will have no moral credibility to provide endorsements to anything.
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