Knowing the influence they yield as prominent pop culture figures, celebrities often campaign for causes well intentioned, but their attempts consistently come off insensitive, peformative, and downright out of touch as they seek social media spectacle over meaningful action.
After years of fame and superfluous wages, many celebrities forget what normalcy and the average life most of their fans live, as they adopt an extravagant lifestyle and mindset that seeks for larger spectacles. Ultimately, this develops into a performative mindset; they transfer their disingenuous attitude into public interactions, seeking virality across social media under the guise of “activism” or support.
Katy Perry’s recent eleven minute voyage to space with aerospace company Blue Origin, alongside other seemingly random stars such as CBS host Gayle King, and Kerianne Flynn raised eyebrows across the internet.
Though the trip was intended to serve as an example for younger women to showcase what’s achievable through science and diligence, the stunt comes off as an unnecessary billionaire excursion that furthers the notion that celebrities are endlessly chasing attention, placing a deeper focus on the celebrity than the social issue at hand.
Perry oversensationalized the event, showing her disconnection with the reality of the average American’s circumstances, only heightened by the times of economic turmoil and uncertaintity. Perry and her branding treat her voyage as groundbreaking, though funds could be better spent on women that dedicated their lives to space exploration and innovation.
Instead celebrities should seek to promote platforms that are genuinely beneficial like or promote hardworking people instead of using their everyday lives as a costume. Many have the innate desire to aid the public, but just lack a productive and grounded way to go about it.
Similarly, influencer Dixie D’amelio had a occurrence in the past; with the intention to highlight her new brand she instead glamoroized the Walmart lifestyle, creating a skewed depiction of the retail industry that many citizens have to work to sustain their families and provide basic necessities such as rent.
Celebrities shouldn’t chase relatability and disingenuous performative activism. Audiences don’t expect public figures to live the same way; celebrities should embrace their position and fulfill actions based on their honest judgement rather than their false understanding of what people would like to see. Attempting to falsify such lifestyles widens the gap between the famous and the everyday, failing to address social issues.
