Celebrity fast

(c) Gene Hunt

Further to the phone-hacking scandal and my blog post yesterday, I was wondering if we might start a social experiment designed to harm those who promote ideas of celebrity culture. Please see my blog post on this topic to see if you agree, and want to take part. On 26th July, I am proposing that we, as a global community, "switch off" celebrity culture for a day. This will be known as "celebrity fast".

I was hoping that by raising awareness of our own complicity in the construction of celebrity culture, and the related harms it brings to the private lives of many, that we might go about setting the record straight. If you want to be a part of this movement, I should like you to avoid all celebrity related practices from 00.00-23.59 on 26th July wherever you are. This means not buying/reading magazines or newspapers that rely on celebrity culture to fill their news stories (e.g. Hello, Heat, The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Mail etc), as well as not visiting their websites. Also, please avoid watching any reality TV programmes on that day.

By not engaging in the process of constructing and reconstructing celebrity, perhaps we can demonstrate to the media at large that we, as consumers, are not beholden to ideas of celebrity for news stories, and therefore, that we respect the right to a private life for all, including those innocently caught in the media spotlight.

Please share this post with anyone that might be interested in taking part in "celebrity fast". on 26th July.