Prime Time 7, Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks

S Unit 7: Celebrities Reading–writing: How star struck are you? (B2) a) Read a newspaper article about celebrities. b) While reading, think of headlines that summarise the most important information of the respective paragraphs. 1  We Americans love our celebrities. We even elect them President of the United States. But where do love and admiration end and “celebrity worship” begin? “People use celebrities as a form of escapism. We all do this,” said psychologist James Houran, who specialises in pop culture. “But at slightly higher levels of celebrity worship, it stops being voluntary.” 1. Rumeal Robinson, who led the University of Michigan to its first NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) basketball championship in 1989 and went on to play five seasons in the NBA (National Basketball Association), knew he has his share of worshipers. He milked his status for all it was worth. Robinson served five years in prison following his 2011 conviction in a financial fraud that took in some of his biggest fans. Chief among them was the loan officer Robinson convinced to help him finance a supposed mega-resort in Jamaica. “I think I was a lot star struck at first,” he said. “When somebody has made it to the level he made it, and I had the desire to get there myself at one point in time. But I believed in it more than I should have.” 2. The bank official helped Robinson secure a $377,000 loan in exchange for a $100,000 bribe. More loans followed. In the end, Robinson managed to scam some $700,000. The money went not toward a resort development in Jamaica, but to his own lifestyle. “I had the opportunity to switch on the light and tell everybody, ‘Hey, there’s probably something wrong with this,’” the loan officer said. Instead, celebrity worship took over. 3. If your favourite celebrity asked you to do something illegal, would you do it? Before you answer that question, consider the fact that, according to Houran, as much as one-third of the general population is at what he calls “stage two” of celebrity worship. “In other words,” Houran said, “They feel an intense, personal connection to a celebrity at the expense of their real relationships. Or they have that plus they’re willing to act on it.” 4. Making the problem worse is the changing nature of celebrity. Now more than ever, people are famous just for being famous. “These people are constantly looking for attention from the media and from fans. And they’ll do whatever it takes to get that attention,” Houran said. “And sometimes, they may be a little lax themselves in how their marketing and how they present themselves is being used.” 5. To protect yourself, Houran says you should condition yourself to never take things at face value – coming from a celebrity or anyone else. “We are only falling prey to a marketing product, and we should be wise enough to listen to what our family and friends say about circumstances, and take their advice versus the advice of someone whom we don’t even know,” he said. Besides, even if your favourite celebrity’s name and face are being advertised, that does not mean he or she is involved at all. 6. The US Federal Trade Commission warns about scams that make unauthorised use of celebrity names to recommend a product. Just this month, the agency obtained a consent judgement involving four defendants accused of improperly using the names of Oprah Winfrey and the stars of the syndicated programme The Doctors to promote weight-loss products. “We really should, if anything, be more cautious whenever we see a situation that a celebrity is telling us about and encouraging us to take part in,” Houran said. That piece of advice might have kept Rumeal Robinson’s scam on the sidelines. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 162 Semester self-checks Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv