Celebrities are everywhere. We see them on magazine and DVD covers. We hear about them on the news and the radio. We even try to smell like them by purchasing their personalized fragrances. Regardless of how much you may dislike the colorful world of pop culture, the fact of the matter is that it surrounds us and is relevant to our everyday lives. Famous people are aware of their influence over the general public, hence why they are the ones chosen to represent companies in ads and why it becomes newsworthy when they speak up to support a campaign. Now what does this have to do with vegetarianism one might ask – the answer is simple: vegetarian celebrities use their power to advocate their lifestyle choices.
Some find that this is a cheap way to kickoff a new food trend, similar to the zero carbohydrate, frozen meal delivery, and point distribution type diets. Personally, I feel that because celebrities are so incredibly looked up to, they should be able to endorse their beliefs, within reason, to the public, especially where vegetarianism is concerned. For as much as we seem to know in this age of technology that we’re a part of, on the whole, we are severely clueless on pressing matters – vegetarianism/veganism being one of them. People simply do not know or understand what being a vegetarian entails, why someone would choose to live this way, what health benefits come from this kind of diet, how being a vegetarian impacts the meat industry, etc. Shame on us for choosing to spend so much time social networking and not so much time informing ourselves, which would only take about ten minutes mind you. Such a lack of knowledge is exactly why I support celebrity spokespeople. They are merely using their fame to communicate to others why being a vegetarian/vegan is a great and important way to live, and I am grateful to have such role models utilize their stardom for good in our society. And so I ask you what is your position on the influence of celebrities in the United States?
Listed below are some well-known vegetarian/vegan celebrities:
-Carrie Underwood
-Anthony Kiedis (singer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers)
-Leona Lewis
-Natalie Portman
-Josh Hartnett
-Prince
-Kristen Bell
-Alicia Silverstone
-Andre 3000
-Tobey Maguire
-Joaquin Phoenix
-Gwyneth Paltrow
-Rachel McAdams
-Chelsea Clinton
-Alec Baldwin
-Kal Penn
-Russell Brand
-John C. Reilly
-Reese Witherspoon
http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/Celebrity_Vegetarians.php
I didn't realize so many celebrities were vegetarians...i think its great when celebrities do things that actually have a good impact on the world
ReplyDeleteWow, Ali. This post is phenomenal. You really developed and supported your point, integrating both objective and subjective analysis. For my blog, I too wanted to write a post discussing celebrity vegetarians, but gave up on the idea after finding that I didn't really have anything to write about. Thus, I had never thought about your point that celebrity vegetarians can use their power of being an influential celebrity to convince more of the general public to be vegetarian. And this will work because the general public looks up to celebrities. Seriously, a great idea and a great post!
ReplyDeleteAllie,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Celebrities are such a big part of our society and it seems like we know more about who they are dating than their personal values and beliefs. Although celebrities are used in commercials and ads that give them more credibility than they actually have, there is nothing wrong with celebrities advocating their beliefs. Everyone should make their beliefs heard and I think this is especially important for celebrities because they have so much power and influence in our society. Great post.
Sophia
Fantastic post, Allie! I think it is great that so many celebrities advocate such a healthy lifestyle. It is true that our generation would rather spend time on facebook than getting informed, but celebrities can get their messages out over facebook. They are helping people to be informed just by putting their beliefs out there.
ReplyDelete