Benefit Concert - Celebrity Charity

Celebrity Charity

Benefit concerts are a major example of celebrity charity for they involve popular musicians; actors and actresses; and other kinds of entertainment figures volunteering to a greater cause. The efficiency of celebrity charity is explained by the theory of Catalytic Philanthropy designed by Paul Schervish. His thesis explains that it is more beneficial to a cause that celebrities do not contribute by only donating their money, but by participating in event like benefit concerts. That way stars can inspire hundreds of thousands of others to give.

The presence of celebrities can motivate criticisms, but the benefits that come from it outweigh the critiques. Some argue that pop stars only take part in charity in order improve their public image. Although that is arguably one of celebrities’ possible objectives, their participation is essential to the success of the event. Celebrities not only promote catalytic philanthropy, they are also capable of producing an effect called Gedolfism, “the mobilization of pop stars and their fans behind a cause”. Therefore, because of their visibility, celebrities are used by organizers as a mean to gain support to the cause in hand.

Furthermore, the success of benefit concerts is tightly related to the quality of entertainment offered by them. In order to gain space and legitimation on the media, benefit concerts have to have a large audience, the kind of large crowd that is attracted by the world’s most famous music stars. Bob Geldof himself responded to criticisms about the lack of African artists on the Live 8 by stating that, although those musicians produce great works, they do not sell many albums and for the sake of reaching out to as many people as possible his concert needed to include only popular artists.

Finally the quality of entertainment is key to the creation of a Public Sphere where discussions about the concert’s cause can occur. The better the entertainment the most people will watch the concert and thus the more people will become aware of the cause. Furthermore, the music played in the concerts can lead spectators to interconnect and become more likely to act towards the cause. According to a theory by (Jane Bennett), when people sing in the presence of other people, and that happens in benefit concerts, they become connected to each other and are more likely to work together towards a goal.

Critics also say that benefit concerts are just a way for the rich West to forgive itself by helping the poor and distressed. These critiques argue that concerts like the Live Aid “rob Africans of agency, reinforces Western ethnocentrism and racisms and see famine as a natural disaster rather than as a political issue”.