Email Service Notes 9th February (Celeste)

As a sporting and cultural icon, David Beckham is always imaged as a loving husband to his wife and father to his children. But the leaked emails in which he raged about not receiving a knighthood and his real attitudes towards the charity seem hurts his “perfect” image to some extent.

He is not the only celebrity who actively involved in charity career and definitely not the only one who did charity for reasons other than “warm heart”. Obviously, taking advantage of charity as a stepping-stone is shame. But some people try to argue it from another perspective, the real purpose of him makes no difference for the result, i.e. the people in need get help anyway. So why do we still blame him for his hypocrisy?

I think it’s because the special responsibilities of the celebrities. As celebrities, they gain a lot from the public – money, reputation, social status, etc. They also may play important roles in many people’s life; especially those treat them as positive examples. So the society asks them to take more social responsibilities as return for what they get. When they try to build their images as kind persons, we expect them to be real kind persons rather than those, who are fool-mouthed and do the charity for the purpose of gaining knighthood.

Edited

As a sports and cultural icon, David Beckham is always portrayed/shown as a loving family man/ husband to his wife and father to his children. But the leaked emails in which he raged on about not receiving knighthood and his real attitude towards the charity seem to hurt his “perfect” image to some extent.

He is not the only celebrity who is actively involved in philanthropy and definitely not the only one who gives and donates to charities for reasons other than a “kind, warm heart”. Obviously, utilizing charities as a career or social stepping-stone is a shame. But some people try to argue it from another perspective as in his ulterior motive makes no difference for the result, i.e. the people in need get help anyway. So why do we still shame him for his hypocrisy?

I think it’s because of the special responsibilities of celebrities. As public figures, they gain a lot from the public – money, reputation, social status, etc. They also may play important roles in many people’s lives; especially those treated as positive role models and examples. So society asks/demands them to take more social responsibility in return for what they receive. When they try to build their images as kind people, we expect them to be real kind people rather than those, who are fool-mouthed and give to charities for the purpose of gaining knighthood.