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Dissertation evaluation of the media
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- Edge Hill University (EHU)
Dissertation evaluation of the media
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Student number: 21505969 DissertationEdge Hill University
MA Film and Media
Dissertation project - MDM4021
Does celebrity social media activism of the global refugee organisation the United Nations High
Commissioner of refugees raise public attention on the refugee crisis in Syria from a political
and humanitarian viewpoint?
By Faye Gibbons
Student number – 21505969
Submitted on 04.09.2017
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, Student number: 21505969 Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation focuses specifically on the global refugee organisation the UNHCR for refugees
analysing how celebrity activists of the organisation have helped to promote awareness through social
media of the Syrian refugee crisis. There will be emphasis placed on the social media campaigns
commissioned by the UNHCR that involve celebrity ambassadors of the organisation into their
campaign. This study aims to understand how the UNHCR’s social media campaigns have gained wide
recognition through celebrity social media platforms in contemporary society. The work and
dedication of high profile celebrities including celebrity goodwill ambassadors and special envoys of
the UNHCR organisation will be reviewed in relation to the appeal on the war-torn conflict in Syria.
There will be a review of the historical and political situation of the UNHCR organisation to help
understand where social media platforms involving celebrities play a pivotal role for the UNHCR
organisation.
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, Student number: 21505969 Dissertation
Table of contents
Title page………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2
Contents page……………………………………………………………………………………………………......................3
Introduction………………………………………………………………………….…………............…………….………4-5
Literature review
Chapter 1 - Celebrity diplomacy versus celebrity activism………………………………………………………….….5-8
Chapter 2 - The rise of celebrity social media advocacy……………………………………………………………….8-12
Chapter 3 - The UNHCR organisation and the effects of celebrity social media advocacy……………………....12-
17
Chapter 4 – Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………………….17-
18
Chapter 5 – Celebrity cosmopolitanism and the suffering star in the world of public social media………….….18-
22
Chapter 6 – The UNHCR’s celebrity social media campaigns……………………………………………………….22-
24
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….24-26
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...26-28
Webography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………29-30
Filmography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...30-31
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, Student number: 21505969 Dissertation
Introduction
In the contemporary world of modern online technology, it is important to investigate how celebrity
ambassadors highlight suffering in the world through social media platforms including Facebook and
Twitter. It is imperative to examine how celebrities manage their public persona through online
platforms to enable the public domain to recognise their political agendas as a means of advocating
world suffering (Littler, 2008). The UNHCR is an organisation with a lifespan of over six decades that
was created by the United nations general assembly in 1950 to help and protect millions of displaced
European refugees (UNHCRe, 2017). Therefore, the significance of this study is to determine how the
UNHCR’s online political communication strategies intend to target not only the minds of the public
sphere but their hearts too using the power of celebrity culture that is attached to the organisation
(Raphael, Lam and Marshall, 2017). Interestingly, political campaigns often evoke emotional
responses from people which often make people very vulnerable to propaganda and symbolic appeals
(Schemer, 2012, p413). Though, the term ‘propaganda’ has become hard to categorise because
virtually anything can be concealed with intentions or beliefs yet not everything has propogandist
purposes (Schemer, 2012). The emergence of the war-torn conflict for refugees in Syria has become a
widely recognised political emergency in recent years and it is a conflict that the UNHCR support and
urgently appeal for using celebrity social media platforms (UNHCRe, 2017). Equally, this modern
political spin towards advocating aid for refugees attempts to persuade, adjust and encourage public
support.
Furthermore, the use of celebrity social media platforms has functional value of persuading people to
act on a cause (Raphael, Lam and Marshall, 2017). Social media platforms advocated by celebrities
also inform the public sphere about the political issues the UNHCR faces during the Syrian refugee
crisis allowing people to reflect and form their own perceptions on these political issues through social
media. Due to the recent development of social media platforms, previous literature has not fully
explored the effects and role that celebrity social media of the UNHCR Syrian refugee crisis plays on
public perceptions and involvement (Raphael, Lam and Marshall, 2017). The relationship between the
UNHCR and online celebrity endorsements of the organisation will be analysed through textual and
online research of the UNHCR and social media platforms (UNHCRf, 2017). This study will develop
an increased understanding of how the UNHCR utilise celebrity social media through online social
media posts on Twitter and Instagram to encourage involvement and opinion of the public domain on
the Syrian refugee crisis. Social media platforms have transformed into an industry of their own as the
UNHCR has effectively reached millions of online followers through online celebrity endorsements
enabling the organisation to build a strong online community (Littler, 2008). The use of new media has
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