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On the uses of celebrity for social change
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June 13th, 2007 issue

When Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling speaks, Czech authorities listen.

After Rowling visited in 2004 and said it was inhumane to use caged beds in mental hospitals, the government banned them. Such beds have a metal frame bolted above the mattress to keep patients confined. They’re still used, however, in nearby countries, including Hungary and Slovakia.
Rowling’s international star status drew needed attention to a worthy issue. Amnesty International and other charity and advocacy groups used her initial success to push for more mental healthcare reforms in the Czech Republic.
Groups such as the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, Fokus, the Association for Mental Health Care and Inclusion Czech Republic called for the right to monitor the use of all restraints, according to a statement from Amnesty International. The groups also demanded that additional regulations be passed to meet international human rights standards. The results have been mixed, mainly because of the low budget allotted to mental health in this country.
The government spends about 3 percent of its healthcare budget on mental health, compared with about 7 percent in other European Union countries, according to the Czech medical journal Medical Tribune. The World Health Organization recommends that 15 percent of a country’s healthcare budget be spent on mental health, so other countries in Europe aren’t doing much better.  
Building on her initial momentum, Rowling was back in town recently to discuss opening a local office of her advocacy organization Children’s High Level Group.
The London-based charity has high-level support from members of UK Parliament and the World Health Organization. It currently works in Romania and Moldova to make sure United Nations standards are enforced to protect children.
Whether you agree with them or not, it’s laudable for Rowling and other celebrities to lend their names to worthy social issues at home or abroad. And controversy often sparks more interest and potential giving from fans of celebrity pet projects.
U2 lead singer Bono uses his name to travel around the world raising awareness about the AIDS epidemic, and raising funds to stop it. Others, including Hollywood stars Nicholas Cage and Sandra Bullock, focus on domestic issues, with Bullock donating more than $1 million to help Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans after the devastating storm in August 2005.
When U.S. film stars George Clooney and Mia Farrow went to the Darfur region of Sudan in November 2006, fans scrambled to find the spot on a map. More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 3 million have fled in the past three and a half years.
It’s harder to tell what effect superstar Angelina Jolie might have on adoption systems and orphanages around the world after adopting a son from Cambodia, a daughter from Ethiopia and a son from Vietnam. A spokeswoman from Jolie’s production company in Prague declined to discuss reports in the Czech and UK press last week that Jolie visited a Catholic charity in the Czech Republic intending to adopt another baby.
Whatever her intentions, it’s safe to say that her personal adoption efforts don’t match the reach she could have if she established a charity similar to Rowling’s to help all foreign orphanages. Jolie is free to adopt as many children as she likes, but Rowling’s efforts suggest that there’s a better way for celebrities to support and promote the causes they believe in.


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