Detrimental Effects of Celebrity Culture on the Contemporary Society

The celebrity culture in the modern society has taken a very central position in the lives of people. Celebrities’ lives have become the talk of the day amongst Entertainment magazines, TV shows and internet blogs. They are loaded with information about celebrities. Celebs have been held with esteem in the society as if they are gods. People are keen on following up on every move made by the celebs. Unfortunately, people are emulating the celebrity culture which is not welcoming. Celebrities are people who are known because they are known. The media fabricates celebrities as superhuman and idols for the society to worship (Berger,A.,A., p34 ).

Celebrity figures have negatively influenced the lifestyle in the society. Women are struggling to imitate their celebrity idols to look like them. Teenagers have indulged in bad behavior such as drug abuse and teenage pregnancies in a bid to be like their role models who are celebrities. Considering the negative impact that the celebrity culture has on the society, it is evident that it is detrimental to society. This easily brings to light various instances in which celebrity culture has led to deterioration of the values of the society.

The celebrity culture focuses on the issues of weight and appearance. At the face of it, this focus may not be bad at all. However, it becomes bad when the society embraces celebrity culture to an extent that it becomes obsessed. Young people are influenced to appreciate thin bodies as sexy bodies. As a result, many of them are forfeiting eating in order to avoid being overweight and instead appear sexy. Consequently, children are suffering from eating disorders at a very tender age. Children get glued to the images of the celebrities in the internet, magazines and on TVS. They gather an impression that they portray reality. Their body sizes fascinate these children the result is a sick child who is anorexic. This is a detriment to the society.

In addition, the celebrity culture has shaped the mentality that society has towards women. This particularly regards their shapes. Women themselves are unhappy with the way they look when they compare themselves to how the celebrity figures look like. Men also judge the shapes of the women bodies based on how the celebrity personalities look. This puts undue pressure on women in an attempt to imitate the looks of the celebrity personalities. Those who fail to achieve this desire end up in depression. Many of them lose self-esteem thereby affecting their productivity in the society. Young girls are being influenced so much that most of them get depressed and end up underperforming in their academics. They are teased by boys. They hate themselves because they think they are responsible for failing taking after their adored celebs in appearance.

Celebrities have been found to define the trending clothing fashion. The society seems to like every aspect of the celebs including the way they dress. Women scantily singers dress during their performances on stage. By their dressing, they appear to attract too much attention from their fans. When young girls see that kind of dressing, they become obsessed with it. They think it will make them appear as sexy as their celebrity idols. They end up wearing clothes that expose their private parts or those that are so tight on them. The trend is detrimental to the society to definition of acceptable public appearance is changing so that walking in public half-naked is becoming a way of life for young girls. Imitating the celebrity figures appears as the way out for the people who have low perceptions about themselves. They think that by getting involved in the celebrity culture, they will be free of ridicule from the society. Instead, this damages the values of the society.

Celebrity culture has also negatively impacted motherhood. First and foremost, celebrity women are not ready to get pregnant. Their refusal to becoming pregnant is in an attempt to safeguard their body shape. Celebrities refuse to become pregnant to safeguard the shape of their body. They think that pregnancy will distort their body image in the eyes of their fans. Ordinary women are also following suit by refusing to get pregnant. They follow the footsteps of their celebrity idols. They want to look as pretty as their celebrity idols. They also think that one way of maintaining their sexy bodies is by not becoming pregnant. How does not getting pregnant help the society? It does not help the society in any way. It devalues the virtues of the society. If women refuse to get pregnant in the name of body appearances, then the future generations in the society face a huge problem. Thank God that not all women are obsessed by the celebrity culture because if they were, a potential crisis would be inevitable in terms of procreation.

On the other side, celebrities who become pregnant have shaped the perception of society in terms of the mode of child delivery (Muda, M., et al., p5). Most of the celebrity figures opt for C-section instead of the normal delivery process. They say that they like C-section because it helps them determine the time that they will deliver. In addition, they are able to plan their activities better because they say that their schedules are busy. They are running up and down performing for their fans while others are in a hurry to get back into their places of work. They have influenced how ordinary women give birth. Presently, many women in the US are opting to deliver though C-section rather than the normal natural delivery process. This is unlike in the past. This approach of child birth by C-section instead of natural birth is putting more pressure on medical facilities. Just because celebrities are choosing C-section rather than normal delivery, does not mean that C-section is the best option. It is a wrong perception. In addition, it is an expensive procedure. Women are thus under pressure. Those that cannot afford surgery view themselves as of low class. With this in mind, it cannot be said that the celebrity culture is having a positive impact in the society. Instead, the opposite is happening. The society is losing its initial grip on what was initially important opting to take what the celebrities portray as the best option.

Furthermore, celebrity culture can end up lowering the moral standards of the society (Makgoss, R., p4). Take for instance the issue of teenage pregnancies. When a celebrity woman becomes pregnant while underage, most of the young girls feel that it is right to get pregnant as well. In the present times, the cases of teenage pregnancies are on the rise. Take an example of the incident that occurred in 2007. When Jaime-Lynn announced that she was pregnant at the age of 15 years, the news was received with anxiety. This is because it was predictable what such a revelation meant to the teenage girls who had Jaime-Lynn as their idol. Most probably, they found it cool to become pregnant at such an age as they tried to blend in and imitate their heroin. This is a despicable damage to the society. Teenage pregnancies bring about unwanted problems in families in which these girls come from. Most notable is the inability to of these teen girls to complete their education. Consequently, the society is affected at large because their hope in the future of the society is doomed with regard to education.

Celebrity women are also coloring the perception of how women should look after giving birth. These celebrity women are doing everything possible to regain their pre-pregnant body shape through such procedures as tummy tucks and liposuctions. Celebrities believe that they have no choice because their body shape is the gateway to their riches. They have no time to enjoy the period of motherhood. Ordinary women are obsessed with their self-image after delivery. Mothers want to regain their pre-pregnant body shapes soonest possible. Instead of waiting for the body to get back to shape in a natural relaxed manner, they imitate what their idols are doing. They forget that not all that the celebrities do is worthwhile. For those who fail to get back to the most desired pre-pregnant shape, they end up suffering from post-partum depression. By all standards, this is not the right direction for the society. Post-partum depression prevents the new mother from enjoying motherhood. The baby born by such a woman may suffer the consequences of the celebrity culture though indirectly. This is because the affected mother will give little attention to the baby and focus more on their body looks.

Finally, celebrity culture has eroded the virtues of society. Young boys are imitating their celebrity idols by indulging in the vices of drug abuse (Shaw, R., L., et al., p4). They see these people using illegal drugs and think that such behavior is worth emulating. The society suffers the consequences of the celebrity culture when their children become drug addicts and unruly. Their productivity in the society diminishes. They end up becoming gangsters and other social criminals. The end result is a deformed society. The blame is on the celebrity culture.

In conclusion, celebrity culture is detrimental to contemporary society. Teenagers and women are the most affected members in the society by the influence of the celebrity culture. Women are suffering from issues of self-esteem as they struggle to look as sexy as their celebrity idols. They are doing this to attract the attention of the members of the society who judge the beauty of a woman by the looks of the celebrity women. Drug abuse is a behavior that may not be wiped out of the face of the earth any time soon as long as celebrity culture is idolized. Teenage boys will always want to emulate celebrities. In general, the celebrity culture is a menace in the society, and unless something is done about it, it is bound to break the contemporary society greatly in terms of the social norms and value(s).

References

Berger, Arthur A. The Agent in the Agency: Media, Popular Culture, and Everyday Life in America. Cresskill, N.J: Hampton Press, 2003. Print.

Chan, Kara, and Cong Zhang. “Living in a celebrity-mediated social world: the Chinese experience.” Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers 6.8 (2007): 78-79. Print.

Makgosa, Rina. “The influence of vicarious role models on purchase intentions of Botswana teenagers.” Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers 5.3 (2010): 2-6. Print.

Muda, Mazzini, Rosidah Musa, Rozita N. Mohamed, and Haznan Hamzah. “The influence of perceived celebrity endorser credibility on urban women’s responses to skincare product advertisement.” Celebrity Culture 4.5 (2011): 3-5. Print.

Shaw, Rachel L., Claire Whitehead, and David C. Giles. “‘Crack down on the celebrity junkies’: Does media coverage of celebrity drug use pose a risk to young people?” Health Risk & Society 4.3 (2010): 3-5. Print.