Celebrity Advocacy and Women’s Rights in Nigeria

Abstract

To bring development closer to the reality of “ordinary” people, popular personalities, working on behalf of themselves, family, or organizations (profit and non-profit) in Africa have consistently given visibility to social problems to influence public opinion for positive transformation. The involvement of celebrities in development-centered issues has evoked debates from scholars in the global north who thought that their act is an extension of neoliberalism that sought to transform complex social realities into a spectacle of performance and entertainment for public amusement. While scholars in Europe and North America have engaged the intersections of celebrity advocacy and development discourse, little attention has been given to this phenomenon by their counterparts in Africa. Drawing from primary sources (including films, video, audio, newspaper articles, autobiography) as well as secondary data in the fields of sociology, women’s and gender studies, media, and popular culture, this paper examines the interrelatedness of celebrity advocacy and social reforms in Nigeria. It shows that while celebrity advocacy promotes awareness and consciousness about women’s rights, it often does not lead to protection (enforcement and change) in the socio-economic and political status of women.