Appeal to celebrity

[[File:Jenny McCarthy at E3 2006.jpg|thumb|right|165px|How could [[Jenny McCarthy|I]] steer you wrong?]]
{{logic}}
[[File:Sports stars smoke camels.jpg|thumb|right|165px|[[Tobacco smoking|Smoking Camels cigarettes]] can cause emphysema, that's why famous sports stars love them!]]
{{cquote|People ask me questions about present situations in life, and I say, “I don’t know, I’m just an actor. I don’t have any opinions. Actors are pretty stupid. My opinion is not worth anything. There’s no controversy for me, so don’t engage me in it, because I’m not going to participate.”|||Anthony Hopkins<ref>[https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/anthony-hopkins-talks-to-brad-pitt-about-movies-mortality-and-mistakes Anthony Hopkins Talks to Brad Pitt About Movies, Mortality, and Mistakes] by Brad Pitt (December 2, 2019) ''Interview''.</ref>}}
{{cquote|So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a [[political]] speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the [[real world]]. Most of you spent less time in school than [[Greta Thunberg]]. So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your [[God]] and fuck off, OK? It’s already three hours long. Right, let’s do the first award.|||Ricky Gervais' conclusion to skewering the actors at the 2020 Golden Globes awards ceremony<ref>[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/transcript-ricky-gervais-golden-globes-2020-opening-monologue-1266516/ Golden Globes: Read Ricky Gervais’ Scathing Opening Monologue: The comedian-actor tackled everything from 'Cats' and Jeffrey Epstein to Netflix's takeover and Leonardo DiCaprio's dating history during his fifth go hosting the Golden Globes.] by Abbey White (January 5, 2020 5:52pm) ''The Holly wood Reporter''.</ref>}}
An '''appeal to celebrity''' is a [[logical fallacy|fallacy]] that occurs when a source is claimed to be authoritative because of their popularity. It is the bastard child of an [[appeal to authority]] and an ''[[argumentum ad populum]]''. The appeal to celebrity is especially common in [[advertising]].

The fallacy is an [[appeal to authority]] and thus a [[conditional fallacy]].

==Form==
{{syl
|2=Famous person '''X''' supports '''Y'''.
|4=(''[[Enthymeme|unstated]]'') Famous persons are correct.
|5=C|6='''Y''' is correct.
}}

==Examples==
*A large part of the appeal of [[fascism]] and other [[right-wing]] [[populism|populist]] movements relies on the idea of the “will of the people” usually centered around a charismatic figure<ref>[https://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/eco_ur-fascism.pdf Ur-Fascism] by Umberto Eco (June 22, 1995) ''The New York Review of Books''.</ref> In other words, the celebrity-style politician/[[dictator]] ''must'' be right — they draw huge crowds, so therefore they represent the ‘will of the people’. To reduce it to the absolute level of absurdity — [[Hitler]] had 66 million fans; who am I to disagree?
*[[Donald Trump]]'s use of the reality TV show ''The Apprentice'' to help win the presidency. Many people voted for Trump because they thought he was an astute businessman who would improve the U.S. economy.<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/31/the-tv-that-created-donald-trump The TV that Created Donald Trump] by Emily Nussbaum (2017 July 24) ''The New Yorker''.</ref><ref>[https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2018/03/donald_trump_won_election_beca.html Donald Trump won election because 'Apprentice' viewers believed in his TV character: study] by Douglas Perry (Updated: May. 17, 2019, 10:08 a.m. | Published: Mar. 12, 2018, 1:30 p.m.) ''The Oregonian''.</ref>
*[[Jenny McCarthy]]’s use of celebrity to spread [[pseudoscientific]] ideas<ref>[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2009/8/15/767373/- Jenny McCarthy's "Mission" to Spread Pseudo-Science.] by Michael Convente (August 15, 2009 · 2:00 PM PDT) ''Daily Kos''.</ref>
*[[Gwyneth Paltrow]] using her celebrity to sell ridiculous ideas such as [[vaginal steaming]]<ref>[https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/gwyneth-paltrow-advises-women-to-steamclean-their-vaginas-20150130-131xsp.html Gwyneth Paltrow advises women to 'steam-clean' their vaginas.] by Megan Blandford (2015 January 30) ''The Sydney Morning Herald''</ref>
*[[John McAfee]] using his notoriety as a cybersecurity "expert" to shill [[cryptocurrency]]<ref>[https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/2/17189880/john-mcafee-bitcoin-cryptocurrency-twitter-ico John McAfee reveals he charges $105,000 per promotional cryptocurrency tweet"] by Shannon Liao (2018 April 2) ''The Verge''</ref>
*The ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' using actress and health industry non-expert [[Suzanne Somers]] to comment about the [[Affordable Care Act]].<ref>[https://archives.cjr.org/the_audit/a_celebrity_journal_fiasco.php A Celebrity Journal fiasco: Quack-loving Suzanne Somers, WSJ "expert" on health care] by Ryan Chittum (October 29, 2013) ''Columbia Journalism Review''</ref>

It is well known in academic business studies that celebrity endorsements significantly increase advertising effectiveness.<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898 Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit] by Alexander P. Schouten et al. (2020) ''International Journal of Advertising'' 39(2):258-281. doi:10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898.</ref> Therefore the most common form of appeal to celebrity, the usage of celebrities to endorse products in advertisements, happens far too often to note individual instances. Celebrity endorsements of products should be considered only at face value: they are when a company pays a celebrity, as part of marketing branding, to boost brand awareness by increasing buzz around a product with a positive review.<ref>[https://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-celebrities-advertisements-56821.html The Effect of Celebrities in Advertisements] by Hashaw (2019 March 29) ''Houston Chronicle''.</ref> Nothing more, nothing less. The celebrity in question may or may not like the product, they get paid either way. It is not uncommon for a celebrity to endorse one product, and then be spotted in public with a competitor's product.<ref>[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/brendanklinkenberg/8-tech-endorsements-gone-wrong 8 Celebrities Who Are Very Bad At Endorsing Products] by Brendan Klinkenberg (2015 July 15) ''Buzzfeed News''.</ref> Even if they are ''contractually obligated'' to use the endorsed product in public.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2008/oct/14/celebrity Charlize Theron: A tale of two watches] by Oliver Marre (2008 October 14) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

Also, scammers will frequently depict celebrities, almost always without authorization, "endorsing" the [[scam]] in their own promotions. This is particularly common for [[Get-rich-quick scheme|get-rich-quick]]/investment type scams,<ref>[https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/11/14/why-you-should-avoid-celebrity-endorsement-scams-l/ Why You Should Avoid Celebrity Endorsement Scams Like the Plague] by Donna Fuscaldo (2019 November 14) '' The Motley Fool''.</ref><ref>[https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/celebrity-scam-tackled-by-ncsc Celebrity scam alert as criminals use rich and famous to lure online victims] (2020 August 14) ''National Cyber Security Centre''</ref> scams promoting [[bullshit]] health products like [[supplements]],<ref>[https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2016/10/03/spotting-fake-celebrity-endorsements-of-diet-and-health-remedies/?sh=3b39a2effdb2 Spotting Fake Celebrity Endorsements Of Diet And Health Remedies] by Bruce Y. Lee (2016 October 3) ''Forbes''.</ref> and celebrity imposter scams, where a scammer impersonates a celebrity to fleece a victim into donating money towards a fake [[charity]] or other similar ruse.<ref>[https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/fake-celebrity.html Celebrity Impostor Scams] ''AARP''.</ref> Even [[quack]] doctor [[Mehmet Oz]] fought back against people falsely using Oz's name to push out their own brand of [[bullshit]] health products.<ref>[https://www.gainesville.com/news/20190430/dr-oz-leads-charge-against-false-celebrity-endorsements Dr. Oz leads charge against false celebrity endorsements] (2019 April 30) ''The Gainesville Sun''.</ref>

==Problems==
Popularity is irrelevant to truth. The only minor exception occurs when the cited celebrity is popular because of their expertise (e.g., [[Richard Dawkins]], [[Stephen Hawking]], and [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] in their respective fields), which merely shows (in this case) that said persons are good at explaining [[science]], not necessarily ''doing'' it. It also doesn't follow that, for instance, Dawkins's expertise in [[biology]] gives him any particular authority in questions of [[religion]], or for that matter other branches of science such as [[physics]] or [[astronomy]]. Similarly, {{wpl|Michael Jordan}} may be an authority on basketball shoes, but because of his expertise at basketball, ''not'' because of his popularity. This also works for [[Canadian]] pop singers {{wpl|Tegan and Sara}} talking about [[LGBTQ]] issues (via their charity) because they are gay. Celebrity culture also drove the cosmetic (medically unnecessary) surgery industry especially the valuable deadly neurotoxin facial injection of [[botox]].<ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2023/01/18/cosmetic-surgery-is-on-the-rise-with-technology-and-hollywood-is-at-the-centre-of-it/</ref>

==See also==
*[[Appeal to authority]]
*''[[Argumentum ad populum]]''
*[[Credentialism]]

==External links==
*[http://www.fallacyfiles.org/apcelebs.html Appeal to Celebrity] ''Fallacy Files''
*[http://www.logicallyfallacious.com/index.php/logical-fallacies/22-appeal-to-celebrity Appeal to Celebrity] ''Logically Fallacious''
*[http://www.skepticsfieldguide.net/2013/02/appeal-to-celebrity.html "Appeal to Celebrity"] ''The Skeptic's Field Guide''
*[https://fallacyinlogic.com/appeal-to-celebrity/ What Is Appeal to Celebrity? Definition and Examples] ''Fallacy in Logic''

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{logfal}}

[[Category:Appeals to authority]]

Categories: Appeals to authority