Being normal citizens, it can be difficult to get our voices heard. If we read or hear about something we feel strongly about, there is not a lot we can do alone. In today’s world, the word ‘celebrity’ matched with someone’s name can enable them to have a voice and, more importantly, make people listen. We live in a world where celebrity can have the power to control, manipulate and brainwash people’s minds. The world would be a different place without them. No matter how good or bad, famous or infamous, the general impact that celebrity has on the world and its people is significant.

It is clear that celebrities literally dominate many aspects of the media. Cinemas worldwide will sell millions of tickets from just one film if it has a stellar cast. The film industry, especially Hollywood, thrives off the celebrity culture that the world seems to be increasingly obsessed with. Theatre is strongly influenced by celebrities also. Leaflets promoting pantomimes often involve a celebrity taking up the majority of space on the leaflet. The fact that there are probably hundreds of other actors who are more qualified and would be better suited to the role doesn’t seem to matter. In London theatre productions, the name of the Hollywood star is often in bigger font than the play that they are appearing in. The fashion industry is the same as well. A trendy ‘celeb’ wearing a certain item of clothing once, is all it takes to start off a trend that sweeps the country. As a result, celebrities have a massive effect on retail business effectively dictating what we should buy. What’s more, renowned fashion houses often use famous people to model in their expensive ad campaigns, simply because it can sell better than a professional model would, who may be much more aesthetically suited to the campaign. The music industry affects people all around the globe and it is the celebrities within it that drive this forward. Millions of citizens in countries round the world where English is not the first language listen to foreign, Western music. Although they cannot understand the language, they will learn the lyrics and celebrities will tour around the world to perform in front of large, foreign crowds.

Celebrities can have a negative effect on the world, however. It is believed that a lot of violence that takes place in certain areas can be linked to music, created by celebrities. A lot of people believe that rap music, in particular, has a lot to answer for because a lot of the lyrics are based around guns and shootings and seem to glamorise gun culture that is present in many inner city areas. Drug taking is also mentioned in rap music, and it is this sort of blatant referencing to drugs that many people are against. Some people also believe that certain rock music encourages violence. Various killings and suicides have been linked to celebrity rock stars because of their violent, satanic, hatred-fuelled and suggestively suicidal song lyrics. With both these genres of music, the issues are global. Wherever the artists play or are played, it is likely that the listeners will be influenced.

On the other hand, the influence of famous people on the world can be very positive. While the main point of their careers is to provide entertainment through different forms of media, celebrities can have major effects on charities, global aid and politics. Take Live8, for example. This was a recent music event that was held in the build up to the G8 summit, where major political leaders would gather to discuss how to improve poor, Third World countries. The intention of Live 8 was to try and raise awareness and encourage the political leaders to abolish debt in these countries. Live8 was a success and, as a result, $50 billion more aid will be given by 2010 and debt was cancelled in 18 countries. The whole Live8 campaign was driven by celebrities, so effectively, they have the power to completely change global poverty. The ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign directly linked with Live8 and was put into action in the build up to Live8 which grabbed the world’s attention. This was mainly because of the famous people that were involved in it. Everybody from music legends to supermodels, TV presenters to Hollywood A-listers were involved making it a huge commercial success. The actual Live8 concert itself was a series of music concerts that took place simultaneously round the globe, each one having multiple celebrities at each of them promoting the message. The whole event would simply not have functioned at all without them and the message would have failed to make any difference to the outcome of the G8 summit.

The idea of celebrities creating money for charity out of entertainment is not a rare concept. It has gradually been discovered over the years that they can use the exposure and attention that they have to much greater effect to make the world a better place. Live8 may have been the ultimate in terms of global participation, however there are a number of other ways in which famous people can benefit the world. Reality TV shows such as ‘Celebrity Fame Academy’ and ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ use celebrities and put them in different scenarios for entertainment value, all to encourage the public to vote who they would like to win or lose in a ‘dog eat dog’- style process. While this may raise serious and important questions about our society and what we want to actually be witnessing on our TV screens, all of the money made from telephone votes goes to charities. Again, it is all because of who we are voting for, highlighting how much power they have.

Perhaps a more conventional way for celebrities to raise money for charities would be to do it on their own, with entertainment being out of the equation. Being selected by the United Nations to be a Goodwill Ambassador involves celebrities visiting poor areas of the world and bringing press attention with them to raise awareness. This is simple yet very effective. Celebrities with the best motives are probably those who decide to use their status to raise awareness about a charity or a cause (such as saving rain forests) completely on their own. Using their position to spread the word about something they feel strongly about can encourage a lot of people to take action, especially if that celebrity has a large fan base.

There are many different types of celebrities to suit everybody’s tastes. It is because of this that the notion of celebrity is so globally influential. While their fundamental job is most commonly to entertain, it is important that everyone remembers what else they can achieve. The gift they have, above every other non-celebrity, is a voice. This can be used to unite people and gain media attention and support for issues that really matter for the benefit of the world. However, some celebrities choose to exploit this and their voice seems to have a more negative effect. This is worrying because if people like this are in the spotlight it means that quite a lot of people must be supporting them. What we must not do, as human beings, is allow our minds and opinions to be changed so easily by people in the spotlight. We must remember that just because they are celebrities, that does not mean they have something important to say. Realistically, there are always going to be troubling people in the world and of course a lot of these people are going to be well known. We can try to ensure that the future of the celebrity influence remains positive, outweighing the negatives, and by recognising the good things that the people in the spotlight are trying to do. Celebrities are massively outnumbered by the rest of the world and the worlds’ future ultimately depends on all of us. As long as we remember that, we can live safe in the knowledge that our own views and freedom of speech can never be overruled by a celebrity, just because they are a celebrity.