It’s Easy To Be Cynical

When we see celebrities getting behind a cause, there are many of us – maybe even most of us – who will have the identical thought. “It must be good for publicity, their agent must have told them to do it“.

And in many cases this may well be true – a celebrity who warns us in song or through film about the damage that we do to our environment, and then drives away from the studio in a gas-guzzling sports car certainly needs to look at their principles. However, many other celebrities are in this for real.

We often make the mistake of judging any group of people by the worst examples of their kind. Most prejudices arise this way, with entire racial or religious groupings becoming the subjects of witch-hunts because their number includes one or two who have done something terrible.

And while racism and bigotry are a step or two worse than being skeptical about a celebrity’s motives, the fact is that the latter can also be negative for everyone. When we reach a certain level of skepticism it infects everything.

Just because we hear of one celebrity who has sold out their ethical principles for the purpose of some easy publicity, it does not mean that everyone who fronts a campaign is going to be the same.

The truth is that celebrity participation can really boost an organization’s pulling power, and if the celebrity involved really believes in the cause then so much the better. Let’s not be cynical because we have been suckered once.