The Framing of Celebrity Ambassadors for Global Humanitarian Causes Content analysis comparing the framing of UN Goodwill Ambassadors by the UN and the news media Master’s Thesis Graduate School of Communication Master’s Program Communication Science: Corporate Communication Ruta Butkute Student number: 10827455 Supervisor: Tatiana Domingues Aguiar Date of completion: 30 January 2020 DIFFERENCES IN FRAMING CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS 2 Abstract Celebrities standing behind humanitarian and development causes has been a global phenomenon. While bringing media attention and funds to humanitarian crises and increasing the visibility of the organizations they represent, celebrity ambassadors have also been criticized for representing equality whilst embodying inequality. In this study, framing theory has been used to explore whether the discrepancy between positive and negative effects of deploying celebrities observed in other studies could be explained by the varying frames of ambassadors in the media. A quantitative content analysis was carried out on 188 articles (N=188) analyzing the framing of the United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors’ in UN sourced articles and in liberal UK and US news media. Comparisons were made between the framing of Goodwill Ambassadors in terms of five generic news frames and four non-generic frames. Results indicate that generic news frames are not very prominent in articles about Goodwill Ambassadors and that there are more similarities than differences in the UN’s and the news media’s framing, with the exception of the expert/authority and apolitical frames, which are more prominent in UN’s communication. It is concluded that the UN’s framing of UN Goodwill Ambassadors is quite aligned with the UK’s and US’ liberal news media. Keywords: Goodwill Ambassador, liberal news media, United Nations, generic news frames, strategic communication DIFFERENCES IN FRAMING CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS 3 Introduction Celebrities engaging in philanthropy, whether through monetary donations, advocacy, or campaigns, has been a very common occurrence in the last few decades. Celebrities can be “tools for teaching Western audiences about their emotional bonds and moral obligations to distant populations” (Wilson, 2014, p. 27) and thus they are used to bolster humanitarian campaigns. Having a wide audience in terms of age, gender, and educational background, celebrities are deployed as representatives of humanitarian causes to use their stardom to engage the public in international development agendas (Wheeler, 2011). So far the use of celebrities as representatives of humanitarian causes has been researched as a contentious strategy with mixed effects for non-profit organizations, beneficiaries, and the public. In terms of positive effects, scholars have indicated that organizations can get more prominence in the media and in the public discourse by using celebrity ambassadors (Cottle & Nolan, 2007) and that celebrity diplomats give attention to causes that later become central in international diplomacy (Wheeler, 2011). Wheeler’s (2011) finding indicates that celebrity ambassadors have agenda-setting power. Agenda-setting is defined as the phenomenon where prominence of issues in the news affects the salience of those issues in the public (Carrol & McCombs, 2003). There have been multiple other positive effects of celebrity ambassadors observed. For non-profit organizations, celebrity ambassadors can be an opportunity to gain international credibility and legitimacy, as indicated by Alleyne (2005), referring specifically to the United Nations (UN). Other studies point to the effective use of celebrity ambassadors for acquiring donations (Um, 2018; Ilicic & Baxter, 2014). Celebrity ambassadors are also recognized as potent shapers of citizens for global DIFFERENCES IN FRAMING CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS 4 governance (Wilson, 2014). Global governance is activated when celebrities bring Western citizens into contact with governmental bodies like the UN and incentivize them to practice “internationalism,” an ideology rooted in global integration with a commitment to help global development (Wilson, 2014, p. 31). As such, celebrities are seen by some scholars as catalyzers of more active participation from the public in global humanitarian programs. However, several studies also point out the negative consequences of deploying celebrity ambassadors. Daley (2013) argues that the use of celebrities in poverty campaigns leads to the commodification of the global south and thus negatively impacts the beneficiaries they are supposed to protect. According to the author, the public consumes celebrities’ lives just like other commodities instigating the same gratifying affects, rather than sincere consideration for the global south (Daley, 2013). When celebrities campaign for various causes, a large part of the attention is shifted towards the “compassionate” and “sacrificing” (Daley, 2013, p. 379) celebrity, rendering the beneficiaries invisible. Furthermore, Hopkins (2017) points out that feminist celebrity activists may actually contradict the cause of global gender equality, “it is perversely ironic that fashion models and movie stars are now packaged as icons of ‘global gender equality’” (Hopkins, 2017, p. 275). Hopkins specifically refers to white female actors who highly profit from the embodiment of patriarchal/western beauty standards and criticizes them for representing global gender equality because they rely on the existence of those standards for their careers (Hopkins, 2017). Thus, some scholars believe that celebrities are not suited to represent equality causes whilst living highly privileged lives. Creating awareness and salience of global humanitarian needs seems to be the main motivation to use celebrity ambassadors by NPOs, but concurrent negative outcomes of deploying celebrity ambassadors point to an occasional discrepancy DIFFERENCES IN FRAMING CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS 5 between NPO’s intentions and effects. This research project seeks to explore this discrepancy by analyzing the framing mechanisms used by organizations deploying celebrity ambassadors, as well as the framing mechanisms used by the news media. When celebrities become representatives of certain causes, as ambassadors, they are packaged into specific frames, where they are no longer just celebrities, but also philanthropists. Frames are “interpretative packages” (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989, p. 3) where a specific idea or message is emphasized, providing a way to interpret and understand the issue (De Vreese, 2005). Frames are interpreted via a framing process in which people develop their attitude, opinion, or thinking about a specific issue (Chong & Druckman, 2007). Therefore, the way that celebrity ambassadors have been framed throughout the years could have contributed to both the positive and negative effects found in previous studies because frames can determine attitude towards an issue. This research project aims to contribute to existing research about framing, particularly how NPOs framing may differ to news media’s framing of the same topic. Previous studies have analyzed how celebrity ambassadors are framed in the media or how celebrities frame themselves (Daley, 2013; Hopkins, 2017), but no study has analyzed how celebrity ambassadors are framed from the organizational perspective. Furthermore, previous studies have undertaken a qualitative approach with a sociological focus, whereas this study has a quantitative method with a communication science focus. As NPOs rely heavily on the public’s monetary support, it is important to understand how this phenomenon is portrayed in the news media and whether it’s congruent with the organization’s communication. Since framing is considered a powerful tool that shapes the perception of an issue (Chong & Druckman, 2007), the identification of the varying frames used for celebrity ambassadors gives insights to organizations deploying this strategy how this phenomenon is framed and the effects it DIFFERENCES IN FRAMING CELEBRITY AMBASSADORS 6 may have on the public’s perception of the organization. Ambassadors are an extension of the organization and thus insights could also shed light on consequences on organizational reputation in terms of their appointed celebrity ambassadors. This research project will specifically analyze the framing of UN Goodwill Ambassadors. The UN is one of the most notable organizations deploying celebrities for humanitarian causes with their Goodwill Ambassadors program in which “distinguished individuals, carefully selected from the fields of art, literature, science, entertainment, sports or other fields of public life” are chosen to create awareness on the work of the United Nations (“Who are the United Nations Goodwill Ambassadors and Messengers of Peace and how are they appointed?”, 2019). Today, there are over 100 Goodwill Ambassadors representing 12 humanitarian sub-organizations of the UN. The UN was chosen as the organization for analysis due to its high visibility in the media and the high volume of celebrity ambassadors. The framing of Goodwill Ambassadors in UN’s media channels will be compared to the top UK and US newspapers based on circulation. Articles from official UN websites will be compared with 10 newspaper sources with a left-center bias. As such, the following research question is explored: RQ: How does UN’s framing of international development celebrity ambassadors differ from US and UK news media’s framing? Theoretical Framework Framing Theory The main principle