“Unfortunately, today’s Christian celebrities are not as prone to rend their clothes like Paul and Barnabas did in Acts 14 when people began treating them as deities.”
From: News with Views, by Paul Proctor
One of the more popular tactics of modern-day marketing is the use or should I say misuse of celebrities. They’re everywhere these days peddling this, endorsing that – posing as “experts” with a special knowledge or wisdom into whatever the public at large assumes they have simply because their face and/or voice is recognizable and trusted due to some past or present and often irrelevant career, affiliation, endeavor or event that gained them a degree of notoriety.
It is human nature for people to trust the familiar more than the strange; and marketers know this all too well. Consequently, many of us will instinctively treat the advice a celebrity gives as the counsel of an astute, discerning and well-informed friend – especially if they’ve played a memorable role, hosted a top-rated show, held an influential office or position, written a best-selling book, made a lot of money, sang a hit song or broken some record in the field of sports that impressed or moved us in some way.
Under their exploited influence, our envy and infatuation often bypasses logic, reason and sound judgment, persuading us to listen and follow their lead even though they don’t know us and we don’t know them beyond the manufactured and well-guarded image we see and hear in the media.
This is the mysterious power of celebrity – a seductive and intoxicating force that too many covet and too few fear – a form of inebriation and delusion, and at times, insanity that incites brazen and bizarre behavior from those who fawn at the feet of fame, making them say and do things they would not otherwise.
The next time you happen to be anywhere near a celebrity, don’t watch them – watch the people around them and you’ll better understand what I’m talking about. Hopefully, what you see and hear will be offensive enough to keep you from being brought under the celebrity’s spell.
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