The Political Economy of Celebrity Activism

178 Pages·2019·1.442 MB·English

by  Nathan Farrell

The Political Economy of
Celebrity Activism
This edited collection brings together scholarly works of both a theoretical and
empirical nature to critically analyse the forms and functions of the contemporary
celebrity activist and to examine how these intersect with the political economic
structures in which celebrity activists operate.
C ollectively, the volume illuminates some of the inherent tensions between the
ethos of solidarity and compassion that the celebrity activist works to generate
on the one hand and the processes of corporate sponsorship and discourses of
individualism upon which the celebrity often depends, on the other. By offering
empirical case studies that situate instances of celebrity activism within specific
political contexts, the collection highlights how celebrity activism intersects with
some of the underlying structures of gender politics and political discourses such
as neoliberalism. In addition, the volume discusses how the tensions between,
for example, individualism and solidarity can raise important questions about the
authenticity of individual celebrity activists and how individual celebrity activists
work, with varying degrees of success, to obfuscate such tensions and obscure the
potential contradictions of their work.
T his book will be of great interest to students and academics within the fields of
politics, international development, political communication, social movements,
activism studies, and celebrity culture.
Nathan Farrell is Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Bournemouth
University, UK. His research interests include celebrity activism, corporate social
responsibility, and popular culture. His work on celebrity activism has been
published in a number of international journals.
Popular Culture and World Politics
Edited by Matt Davies
Newcastle University
Kyle Grayson
Newcastle University
Simon Philpott
Newcastle University
Christina Rowley
University of Bristol
Jutta Weldes
University of Bristol
The Popular Culture and World Politics (PCWP) book series is the forum for
leading interdisciplinary research that explores the profound and diverse intercon-
nections between popular culture and world politics. It aims to bring further inno-
vation, rigor, and recognition to this emerging subfield of international relations.
To these ends, the PCWP series is interested in various themes, from the jux-
taposition of cultural artefacts that are increasingly global in scope and regional,
local, and domestic forms of production, distribution, and consumption; to the
confrontations between cultural life and global political, social, and economic
forces; and to the new or emergent forms of politics that result from the rescaling
or internationalization of popular culture.
Similarly, the series provides a venue for work that explores the effects of new
technologies and new media on established practices of representation and the mak-
ing of political meaning. It encourages engagement with popular culture as a means
for contesting powerful narratives of particular events and political settlements as
well as explorations of the ways that popular culture informs mainstream political
discourse. The series promotes investigation into how popular culture contributes to
changing perceptions of time, space, scale, identity, and participation while estab-
lishing the outer limits of what is popularly understood as ‘political’ or ‘cultural’.
I n addition to film, television, literature, and art, the series actively encourages
research into diverse artefacts including sound, music, food cultures, gaming,
design, architecture, programming, leisure, sport, fandom, and celebrity. The series
is fiercely pluralist in its approaches to the study of popular culture and world
politics and is interested in the past, present, and future cultural dimensions of
hegemony, resistance, and power.
The Political Economy of Celebrity Activism
Edited by Nathan Farrell
F or more information about this series, please visit: w ww.routledge.com/Popular-
Culture-and-World-Politics/book-series/PCWP
The Political Economy of
Celebrity Activism
Edited by Nathan Farrell
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Nathan Farrell; individual chapters,
the contributors
The right of Nathan Farrell to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-67568-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-56051-9 (ebk)
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Contents
Figure vii
List of contributors viii
Series editors’ preface x
1 Introduction: “Getting busy with the fizzy” – Johansson,
SodaStream, and Oxfam: exploring the political economics
of celebrity activism 1
NATHAN FARRELL
2 Celebrity activism and the making of solidarity capital 19
BRUNO CAMPANELLA
3 Funded by philanthropy, founded for activism: Nobel Peace
Prize laureates and their organisations’ political endeavours 35
LUKASZ SWIATEK
4 The value-form of persona: celebrity scandal, activism, and
commodities 51
HILARY WHEATON AND SAMITA NANDY
5 ‘Bring back our girls’: social celebrity, digital activism, and new
femininity 66
SUSAN HOPKINS AND ERIC LOUW
6 Promoting peace and coffee pods: George Clooney, Nespresso
activist 85
JOSHUA GULAM
7 All under the Same Sky? Celebrity philanthropy and the
transnational market for women’s empowerment 100
ANNIKA BERGMAN ROSAMOND AND CATIA GREGORATTI
vi Contents
8 Co-opting the ‘Losers’: Bob Geldof and neoliberal activism after
the financial crisis 115
NATHAN FARRELL
9 Authentic activism: challenges of an environmental celebrity 134
JACKIE RAPHAEL
10 Celebrity activism and revolution: the problem of truth and
the limits of performativity 151
PANOS KOMPATSIARIS
Index 166
Figure
7.1 Beaded bracelets Photo taken by Catia Gregoratti, Gahaya Links,
Kigali, Rwanda, August 2014. 104
Contributors
Annika Bergman Rosamond is Associate Professor in International Relations at
the Department of Political Science, Lund University. She is also the Director
of the MA in Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences. She is the current
chair of the Feminist Theory and Gender Studies section of ISA. Her main
research interests include cosmopolitan thought; feminism and IR/security
studies including feminist foreign policy; celebrity humanitarianism and poli-
tics. She has published widely on feminist foreign policy, international ethics,
gender cosmopolitanism and celebrity humanitarianism in a range of journals
and books.
Bruno Campanella is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Cul-
tural Studies at Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil. He is the author of
the book ‘Os Olhos do Grande Irmão: Uma etnografia dos fãs do Big Brother
Brasil’, and has recently published on media practices, and processes of media
recognition.
Nathan Farrell is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Bournemouth
University, UK. His research interests include celebrity activism, corporate
social responsibility, and popular culture. His work on celebrity activism has
been published in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations
and M/C journal.
Catia Gregoratti is Lecturer in Politics and Development at Lund University,
Sweden. Her research is situated in the field of feminist international political
economy. She has written and published on UN-business partnerships, corpo-
rate social responsibility, and more recently on the corporatisation of feminism
and its contestation.
Joshua Gulam is a Lecturer in Media and Communication at Liverpool Hope
University. His PhD, completed at University of Manchester in January 2017,
focused on the charitable and political campaigning of contemporary Holly-
wood films stars, including Angelina Jolie and George Clooney. Publications
include chapters in Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that
Endure (2016) and Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror and the
Politics of Fear (2019), as well as a journal article on film star campaigning in
Celebrity Studies (forthcoming 2020).
Contributors ix
Susan Hopkins is a senior lecturer within the Open Access College of the Univer-
sity of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her research interests include socio-
logical approaches to the education of marginalised groups including LSES
youth and incarcerated students as well as critical cultural studies and media
representations of gender, feminism and empowerment.
Panos Kompatsiaris (PhD, University of Edinburgh, 2015) is assistant profes-
sor in art and media at the National Research University Higher School of
Economics in Moscow. He works at the intersection of contemporary art
theory, cultural studies and ethnography, focusing on the broader politics of
culture under capitalist relations of production.
Eric Louw is a Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at the Univer-
sity of Queensland. He has previously worked for a number of South African
universities, and run an NGO engaged in development work. Louw currently
serves on the editorial boards of five journals and is a research Fellow at the
University of South Africa. He has published widely in the fields of political
communication, South African media and South African political discourse.
Samita Nandy holds a doctoral degree from the School of Media, Culture and
Creative Arts (MCCA) at Curtin University in Australia. Her research focuses
on celebrity activism and nationalism, and has been sponsored by international
and national grants in Australia and Canada. Dr. Nandy has taught at the Uni-
versity of Toronto, Ryerson University, and Curtin University. She is now the
founding director of the Center for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS).
Jackie Raphael teaches at Curtin University. Her research predominantly focuses
on celebrity culture, social media, endorsements, branding, iconic status and
bromances. Dr. Raphael is on the Editorial Board of Waterhill Publishing and
on the Advisory Board of Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies. Dr. Raphael
has organised and chaired conferences globally and is the creator/producer
of Celebrity Chat. Furthermore, she has published various books including
Building Bridges in Celebrity Studies (2016) and Becoming Brands: Celebrity,
Activism and Politics (2017).
Lukasz Swiatek lectures and researches in communication and media studies in
the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales,
Sydney. His research interests include strategic communication, including digi-
tal developments affecting professional communicators and organisations, and
the changing shapes and roles of different types of rewards. He has published
extensive research on public relations, communications and creativity and his
teaching and learning blog regularly receives visitors from around the world.
Dr Hilary Wheaton is a member of the Editorial and Advisory Board for the
Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies (CMCS), Editorial Board Member for
Water Hill Publishing, and Executive Committee Member of Open & Distance
Learning Association Australia (ODLAA). Her research interests include
sexuality and embodiment, persona and celebrity, and learning and teaching in
higher education. She currently works at RMIT Australia, as the Lead Learning
Design and Technology.