Doing Good or Doing Nothing? Celebrity, Media and Philanthropy in China (original) (raw)
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China Quarterly, 2019
This article provides the first comprehensive analysis of the development of and public responses to celebrity-fronted philanthropy in the People's Republic of China. It explores the extent and nature of celebrity philanthropy with reference to a sample of mainland Chinese celebrities in entertainment and sports. It then draws on interviews conducted with employees of large charities to examine the kinds of links that are being forged between China's not-for-profit sector and commercial organizations managing the work of celebrities. Finally, it analyses the responses to a national survey on celebrity and philanthropy. We conclude that the relationship between China's government, not-for-profit and celebrity sectors is becoming more professionalized and organized. This development reveals how the roles and capacities of government are being reconfigured and expanded, even as it also enhances the scope for action and the influence of new social actors and organizations to address government-led national development issues.
Celebrity Philanthropy: The Cultivation of China's HIV/AIDS Heroes
Celebrity in China, 2010
Because you are a celebrity, the common people recognize you. You utter one word, do one thing, and you have the power to have an influence. This ability to have an effect [on people] comes with being a celebrity. ('Pu Cunxin de lücheng' 2006)
Celebrity-inspired, Fan-driven: Doing Philanthropy through Social Media in China
This paper provides the first detailed study of the links between celebrity-fan communication networks and philanthropy in the People's Republic of China. It explains how the evolution of the Chinese Internet, and especially the rise of social media, has created new spaces in which fans of entertainment celebrities may be induced to engage with philanthropic causes. It then outlines the history of Chinese fan-driven philanthropic initiatives centred on people who became famous through reality-television popular music competitions. Finally, it offers a case study of the initiatives connected to popstar Li Yuchun, and examines the rationales provided by fans in online forums and interviews for their philanthropic engagement. Critics of celebrity-inspired philanthropy highlight its supposedly inauthentic and passive nature. Yet we find that fans actively exploit the forms of sociality that are provided by celebrity-fan communication networks, both to establish virtual participatory communities and to generate social action in the form of non-government-organised volunteering.
Zhang Ziyi and China's Celebrity Philanthropy Scandals
In January 2010, the internationally acclaimed Chinese actor, Zhang Ziyi, became a focus of public criticism for allegedly defaulting on a pledge to donate one million yuan to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake disaster-relief fund. That earthquake not only killed 70,000 people and left five million homeless, but also produced a dramatic rise in individual and corporate philanthropy in China. Philanthropic donations in 2008 amounted to a total figure of 100 billion yuan, exceeding the documented total for the preceding decade. Zhangs `failed pledge led fans and critics to accuse her in interactive media forums of both charity fraud and generating a nationwide crisis of faith in the philanthropic activities of the rich and famous. Dubbed `donation-gate, the ensuing controversy obliged Zhang Ziyi to hire a team of USA-based lawyers, to give an exclusive interview to the China Daily, and to engage in renewed philanthropic endeavours, in an effort to clear her name. Hence, contrary to claims that celebrity philanthropy is an apolitical mode of philanthropy, an examination of the Zhang Ziyi scandal and its disaster-relief precursors demonstrates that celebrity philanthropy in the Peoples Republic of China is a political affair.
Celebrity Philanthropy: An Introduction
The University of Chicago Press eBooks, 2015
Cultural Studies has not devoted much notice to one of the keynote developments in modern culture over the last 30 years: namely, the rise of various charity projects fronted and, in the public mind, defined by celebrities. (Rojek 2014: 127) In the very noisy and complicated world that we have, people that reach large numbers of people, like Madonna does, have an extraordinarily important role to play [in promoting philanthropy]. When they're devoting their time, their money, their name, a lot of effort, a lot of organization skill to all of this, it makes a huge difference. (Jeffrey Sachs cited in Luscombe 2006). [C]elebrity humanitarianism […] is most often self-serving […] it advances consumerism and corporate capitalism, and rationalizes the very global inequality it seeks to redress; it is fundamentally depoliticizing, despite its pretensions to 'activism'; and it contributes to a 'postdemocratic' political landscape, which appears outwardly open and consensual, but is in fact managed by unaccountable elites. (Kapoor 2013: 1) Celebrity philanthropy is a visible and controversial phenomenon, as the opening quotations suggest. According to the 'Look to the Stars: The World of Celebrity Giving' website, which is advertised as 'the web's number one source of celebrity charity news and information' since 2006, there are now more than 3,400 [Hollywood-branded] celebrities involved with over 2,000 charities that aim to 'make a positive difference in the world' ('Look to the stars' 2006-15). Besides the apparent upsurge of commentary on celebrity and charity in tabloids, gossip magazines, business and news magazines, and social networking sites, there are a
The celebrity burden: Celebrity campaigns in the pursuit of humanitarianism
2013
1 Acknowledgements My thanks and adoration goes first and foremost to the Almighty God without whom none of this work would have been possible. He has been faithful to me. I would also like to thank my advisor Dr. Sue Collins for her patience, guidance and encouragement throughout the course of this research. I thank her for taking time off her busy schedule to assist me. Her comments and feedbacks urged me on. I equally extend my profound gratitude to my thesis committee members Dr. Ramon Fonkoue, Dr. Diane Shoos, Dr. Mark Rouleau whose immense contributions ensured the success of this research. iv 2 Abstract Celebrity participation in humanitarianism and politics has received a lot of attention in recent times. Though many researchers have sought to explain the reasons underlying this phenomenon, there appears to be little information as to the efficacy of these celebrity efforts. The present research thus undertakes an analysis of the celebrity's participation through a study...
Media Culture & Society, 2012
In our contemporary mediatized societies, philanthropy seems to be part of celebrities’ ontology, while celebrities have become indispensable for the charity industry. This has provoked both negative and positive appraisals, although the specific nature and consequences of celebrities’ involvement remain unclear. This article contributes to these debates by providing a systematic analysis of the roles celebrities play in telethons, which we redefine as charity media events, allowing us to study the shows in their full contextual complexity as ideological constructs. Applying qualitative content analysis, we have analyzed two charity media events following the 2010 Haitian earthquake. In general, four distinct roles have been discerned: celebrities add an aura of exclusiveness and glamour, they render distant suffering relevant to domestic audiences, they function as principal motivators, and also contribute to the commodification of charity. Celebrities’ involvement thus reinforces ...