Celebrity gossip is a multi-million dollar business. Since the early days of the 20th Century, people all over the world have been clamoring to hear and read about the latest celebrity gossip. Whether it is white celebrity gossip, urban news, black celebrity gossip on black news websites, or Hollywood gossip that takes no prisoners due to race issues one way or the other, celeb news seems to constantly be on the minds of regular folks everywhere.
When it is all said and done each year, the gossip industry tops over $3 billion dollars per year in revenue. That’s a lot of money for a lot of gossip. Most of the time, the gossip is centered around celebrities who have been quite successful in their chosen fields and have made a nice life for themselves with their riches. The ordinary person on the street believes he can at least engage in theirs lives by participating in gossip, knowing he will never get the chance to live the celebrity lifestyle himself.
But what if all of this celebrity gossip could be funneled into something useful like charity work? What if all of the strength and energy that goes into putting someone down could be used to build someone up? What if celebrity gossip could be used for good instead of evil?
When a celebrity supports a cause of some kind, 27% of people between the ages of 18-36 in the United States are likely to support that cause as well. The percentages go lower as people get older, but that is the demographic most affected by the celebrity world. In 2011, the Harvard Business School found that a company that uses a big name endorser will increase a company’s revenue by roughly $10 million annually.
What this means is that we need a shift in the direction of the conversations we are having about celebrities. If instead of gossiping about who is divorcing whom and who had a feud with whom we spent more time with what causes these celebrities themselves are supporting with their financial contributions, we might be able to make a dent in the world of poverty and hunger.
Think about it for a second. There are many people who read the gossip papers in the checkout lines of their local grocery stores. They go to their jobs every day, work hard and feel there is nothing they can do for others. They see celebrities as people out of touch from them who don’t really do anything to help those less fortunate than themselves. The truth is, they really don’t know what celebrities do for the less fortunate because that is not the kind of news they are given.
If they understood that just a dollar or so a day could help someone in need and they found that out by reading that Will Smith or Beyonce supports their local soup kitchen, then maybe the everyday Joe might understand that he can make more of a difference than he thought possible.
