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Celebrity is a central structuring point in self and social identification, per-forming as it does an increasingly important role in self-framings, self-imaginings, self-revisions and self-reflection.
Celebrities have two kinds of specific power; the abilities to shed light on issues and persuade audience.
Through their activism on the world stage, a self-selected cast of celebrities have begun to have a significant impact on policy, shaping the agenda on a range of global humanitarian issues.
Celebrities play a growing role as part of an emerging strategy for political advocacy. There is empirical confirmation of celebrities having a positive effect on the willingness of young people to support specific causes.
Political sway could be heavily influenced by public media fans. As more individuals become involved with the opinions of their idols, they could potentially be swayed into a specific political scope. Influence is a pivotal part of politics.
Let’s ask ourselves this questions.
1. what factors justify celebrity endorsement as an election campaign strategy given the increasing doubts associated with celebrity involvement in politics?
This suggests that celebrities are largely emulated and their promotion of a cause would receive attention and influence opinions. Thus celebrity endorsement of politicians increases the exposure of the politicians to the public, and can also improve the involvement of voters in the election process. Advertisers use film, television, music or sports celebrities to promote their brands because consumers identify with success stories
Candidates use Celebrities to increase support from the audience, raise funds and mobilize voters. They also postulate that celebrities use their persuasive powers to make contesting candidates unpopular.
They seem to suggest that the more accessible and familiar politics appears to be, owing to the celebrities involvement in it, the more likely voters will be receptive to political messages.
Oprah Winfrey‟s endorsement for Barack Obama prior to the 2008 democratic presidential primaries to confirm that Winfrey‟s endorsement had a significant effect on Obama‟s election outcomes.
Her involvement increased the number of votes received by Obama, as well as the overall level of voter participation. A lot of election campaigns were done on social media and owing to the massive followership enjoyed by celebrities, campaign managers would leverage on that to reach their fans.
Numerous campaign and endorsement videos were uploaded on YouTube. Celebrities who are active on social media were probably considered a great channel to communicate the campaign message.
All the explicit information stated above indicates that Ghanaian musicians that have thrown their support and endorsement for the New patriotic party have done no wrong and in effect, their critics, must not drag their images to the gutters.
Story By: Obofour Michael – www.myghanamedia.com (Reporter)
