Celebrity Star Power

In the June 30, 2008 issue of Forbes the story 100 Celebrity Star Power appeared. These stars ranged from athletes, actors and authors to musicians and talking heads among other professions. I noticed a couple of chefs and a few others. Then it gave their pay (all in the millions) and money rank. The least paid was 1.5 million; the highest, 300 million. I was going to tally all 100 but decided to only do the top ten by rank: here are the figures if my math is correct (in millions): 300, 275, 150, 145, 130, 125, 115, 115, 85 and 82. Apparently some of these are not individuals but groups (wonder how they divvy up their millions).

If you add these, the total is 1,522,000,000 (billion) with two women no less at the top of the money list. However, the power rank was not always equal to the financial standing. The power top ten totaled 1,143,000,000 while the other 90 earned 379,000,000 (about $40 million each). It is interesting, however, that all 100 power rank celebrities were millionaires.
Then, of course, to be a millionaire today isn’t the achievement it was yesterday when we seniors were youngsters. Even so, the influence of these celebrities is enormous, both for good and ill. Forbes arrived at its posting by determining the gross income from several sources by studying Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Web hits, TV/radio and media mentions.

This summary may sound like sour grapes, especially by one who has never come anywhere near being a celebrity much less a wealthy or significantly influential person. But that is not why this senior moment has been penned. Rather, it is to underline the awesome power exerted by celebs from so many areas: athletics, movies, television, the printed page, talk shows, music and the like. We are all influenced by celebrities of all ages with enticements coming from tweens and teens to adults.

We seniors had our own distractions when we were young and impressionable and many of us were warned of pending proclivities that could entrap us. And some did. But nothing like the bombardment today coming at us from every imaginable angle, especially that aimed at our children and their children. And Forbes no doubt is doing us a favor if we are discerning enough to recognize the awesome power of celebrities and money.

In conclusion, let’s go back to Forbes article. It also included The Infamy Index and I quote: "Any publicity is good publicity. This year we found a special way to recognize bad behavior. Here’s a ranking—based on press coverage—of the five most infamous people in the past five months. Brittany Spears . . . "nearly every story this year involved divorce, a child custody case, drug and alcohol abuse or—tacky, tackymdash;a phoned-in performance at the MTV Video Music Awards," Michael Vick, NFL quarterback, nailed for financing a dogfighting ring, Roger Clemens accused of steroid abuse, Eliot Spitzer, ex-New York gov, and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright" (italics mine). A good start, Forbes.

The magazine was either kind or selective (probably both) in mentioning only five persons (all male) in its Infamy Index. No doubt many or most of us could add quite a few more candidates depending upon our ethical, moral, biblical or humane considerations. Seniors, we dare not underestimate the powerful influences these celebrities and others have on us and on the upcoming generations. Nor dare we underestimate the power of our senior influence either.