In case you missed it, Ryan Seacrest and Kim Kardashian died this week. Unlike most celeb news these days, the story did not break on Twitter. Because Seacrest and Kardashian died digitally. Both vowed to silence their social media presence, symbolically snuffing themselves as part of World AIDS Day. Through social media suicide, celebrities angled to motivate fans to “buy their life back” via text messages and online donations to the AIDS organization, Keep a Child Alive.
BuyLife.org features each of the participating celebrities in gratuitous open-coffin shots modeling designer labels and heavily made-up to look glamorously dead – like perhaps the makeup team from Twilight was on call for the shoot. The message beside each glossy photo tells visitors that Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake and Jay Sean have “sacrificed” their digital lives to save real lives.
That means no more Twitter or Facebook updates from any of them. No more knowing where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are happening in their lives. From here on out, they’re dead. Kaput. Finished.
The direct comparison of tee-totaling Twitter to the death of AIDS victims in Africa and India falls woefully short of good taste. The message is that losing the real-time update on celeb grocery shopping is comparable to losing a child to an epidemic disease, as noted in this piece from The Christian Science Monitor.
Keep a Child Alive is mentioned, but any real understanding of what it is must be accessed by clicking on the small logo buried in the upper left corner. Some are questioning the vaguely stated allocation of funds and the touting of so-called “cultural capitalism.” Once on the charity’s site, behold the sharp contrast of those who are really dying – hopeful-faced children – with those who are supposed to be pleading their case. And the argument is based not upon the desperate need for research, education and medical supplies but upon a solicitation that you pay $10 to know their dinner plans.
What is the real message? Save children or save celebs? The confusion between the two may be responsible for the less-than-stellar launch; at present, the cause has raised only $160,000.
Celebrity causes are nothing new; but if the cause is lost behind the celeb, the message rings hollow. When prevalent skepticism demands authentic philanthropy, killing social media simply doesn’t compel. And when it’s truly a matter of life and death, trivial twitter death degrades the real human lives being lost in this plague.
