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BIOETHICS AND CELEBRITY PHILANTHROPY

Ivica Kelam, D. Rupcic, A. Racz

Abstract

The advent of neoliberal capitalism at the beginning of the 1980s led to the rise and media promotion of celebrity philanthropy. Groundbreaking events in the media affirmed celebrity philanthropy, for example Bob Geldof's organisation of the Live Aid concert in 1985 with the aim of collecting aid for the hungry in Africa. Geldof's example was an inspiration for other celebrities such as the musician Bono Vox, the actress Angelina Jolie to engage in philanthropic activities. In the analysis of their philanthropic activities, on the one hand it is apparent that there is uncritical glorification of their activities, while at the same time, critics point out that their philanthropic activity primarily serves as a means to repair their public image and promote neoliberal capitalism. In this paper, we will investigate the phenomenon of celebrity philanthropy through an integrative-bioethical analysis of the activities of Bono Vox using the example of his product (RED), and show that celebrity philanthropy, despite the often unquestionably noble motives of celebrities, is not the answer to problems that burden society such as poverty, hunger, inequality and climate change. Moreover, in the case of the product (RED) campaign, it is apparent that it operates on a surface, visible media level, solely solving consequences and not questioning the causes of inequality, the spread of AIDS and poverty. In this way the product (RED) strengthens neoliberal capitalism and its harmful consequences.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocialF2018/1.6/S01.002

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