It used to be that politicians regarded celebrity endorsements as a straightforward means of attracting media attention and therefore winning votes. For example, the era of Cool Britannia in the 1990s coincided with Tony Blair’s landslide election victories.
There has always been the odd blip. The comedian Kenny Everett declared his support for Margaret Thatcher in the 1983 General Election campaign by declaring at a Conservative rally: “Let’s bomb Russia.” It was regarded as something of a mixed blessing – although most voters managed to work out that the comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
But the growing trend in recent years has been the self-righteousness of the celebrity pronouncements. Almost invariably actors, writers and musicians speak from a position of utter moral certainty combined with complete ignorance. There are some exceptions – however offensive Bob Geldof might be, he certainly has some knowledge of international development and the effectiveness or otherwise of Overseas Aid.
Overwhelmingly, though, these pious celebs know less about current affairs than most of the public who are expected to put up with their lectures. Most embarrassing of all is when some craven politician stands alongside nodding respectfully. The implication is supposed to be that the politician is gaining some profound insight from the inane babblings of the pop star or actor.
Let us take the case of the absurd Ewan McGregor, the actor who played a heroin addict in that revolting film Trainspotting. He was supposed to be plugging a sequel to the film showing how all the heroin addicts have now become middle aged – which sounds even more dreary than the original.
This was meant to include being interviewed by Piers Morgan on the ITV breakfast programme Good Morning Britain. But McGregor pulled out when he discovered that Morgan had been critical of Women’s March against Trump. Among other things, Morgan had attacked Madonna’s idiotic comments about “blowing up the White House”.
McGregor’s petulance encapsulates the luvvie mentality. Their desire is to operate in a smug unchallenged environment . Anyone holding a contrary opinion to them is considered to be so unacceptable that they can’t even bring themselves to be in the same room as whoever has expressed ‘dissent’.
What can be done about this? The smarter politicians have probably started to twig that the electorate has become irritated by all the celebrity meddling. Yet such is the vanity of politicians, they find it difficult to restrain themselves when the chance of a photo opportunity presents itself. In any case, it doesn’t need politicians for the celebs to find some fashionable bandwagon to jump on.
Often the offending celebrity’s call is to boycott something or another, so perhaps the answer is to fight fire with fire and apply a consumer boycott of our own. Why should we pay those who are supposed to entertain us but instead of doing so cannot resist getting on their soapboxes? If a celebrity is using a book, film or song to push their personal political agenda, then the public should find other books to read, different films to watch and other songs to listen to.
For devoted fans this might be a challenge. But it is the only way the stars will learn. Their opinions on world events are of no greater import than anyone else’s. So let them make use of whatever talents God has given them for the rest of us to appreciate. We are the customers and if they persist in telling us what to think then it is time for us to shop elsewhere.
