Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Chronicle on the 'Cause Celeb'

A recent edition (October 30th) of The Chronicle on Philanthropy included an article on celebrity activism. (www.philanthropy.com/premium/articles/v21/i02/02005101.htm) In particular, it discussed Ashley Judd's involvement with YouthAIDS, a program of Population Services International. While Ashley Judd's involvement has brought positive attention and greater awareness to the mission of YouthAIDS, this mutually rewarding and beneficial (I'm inferring from the article) partnership does not always play out as well with other causes and celebrities. Helen Fielding's novel Cause Celeb offers a spot-on take of all aspects - both positive and negative - of celebrity charitable activism. Her questions are thoughtful, insightful, and certainly not easy to answer. For anyone interested in this growing fundraising and awareness trend, Fielding's novel is a must read!

2 comments:

Alyssa said...

After graduation, I think that we should all work for celebrities. Then we could meet up at special celebrity fundraisers. Wouldn't that be grand?

Actually, I'm sure that its probably a really crappy gig.

LKM said...

I'm SOOOO in, Alyssa! Even if it IS a crappy job, we could totally do it for a year or two. That would be lovely!