Fame and Development - More Harm than good?

This week we had a long, active discussion on the role of celebrities who champion development causes. Angelina Jolie and Bono come to mind as celebrities who are well-known for their philanthropic and humanitarian work. However, do development and fame work well together, or can more harm come when well-meaning celebrities step outside their usual roles?




As celebrities are almost never people well-trained in development economics or policy scholars, their main contribution to the cause is money and awareness. While money is certainly a necessary tool, money and aid have been given to developing countries for decades with little change or success, suggesting that it is maybe a deeper structural issue when it comes to poverty that money itself can't fix. The only exception to this would be humanitarian aid, when large sums of money are needed quickly in an emergency for an unanticipated disaster. Awareness is another important component, as people are far more likely to donate and care about a cause that their favorite celebrity is supporting. However, awareness can only go so far. If someone is inspired to actually learn about a cause and do development work based on this, then of course it is a success, but does this happen very often?


A recent example of  "awareness" causing a frenzy in the Western world was the Kony 2012 campaign that many of us saw all over our social media that year. Kony 2012 went viral on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, and people were appalled to learn of the horrors of Joseph Kony and his actions in Uganda. However, Invisible Children, the company behind the campaign, was found to be questionable and the issues the campaign was bringing awareness to had long since died down in Uganda. Ugandans were afraid that this would cause a resurgence in violence when they were just beginning to heal.


All this being said, is there a way for fame and development to coexist? Awareness can be a very positive factor if those influenced by celebrities use their newfound awareness to learn about their world and lobby for the changes they want to see. However, beyond that, should there really be a role for celebrities in development? I honestly think they're a non-factor - I don't think any celebrity has radically changed any developing nation and really can't - their talents lie in entertainment and not economic development.