Written By Riva Agarwal (Grade 9)
It is outrageous to think celebrities don’t deserve the millions they receive. When businessmen make millions, or billions, doing their work, putting in their effort, do we question them? No. So, when entertainment is a significant part of our lives, those who put in months of effort to produce good movies, deserve every penny they get.
Celebrities and sports stars don’t get created out of thin air- they put in thousands of hours of hard work to get where they are. Especially sports stars- their entire career depends on their performance; if they stop performing well, they are often removed from competing internationally. Take Olympics participants, for example, so many of them have been training since childhood, and after years of struggle, they beat thousands of people to get where they are. Famous singers spend years perfecting their tone, song after song.
It is argued that in the entertainment industry, there is a predominant force of nepotism, where offsprings of successful actors get paid hefty sums of money even though they don’t perform well. Does that not happen in the business industry? Parents pass down their business to their children, who get a ready- made silver platter of money, and don’t have to put in as much effort, yet gain a huge amount. The entertainment industry is very similar. Some even criticize movie stars for charging huge amounts for brand endorsements. These arguments are completely baseless, because thousands of people buy a product because a celebrity does an ad for it- and it directly increases the sales of a business, increases their competitiveness, and ultimately benefits the business. If the business earns a bigger profit because of the celebrity, why shouldn’t the celebrity charge a huge sum? It is rightfully the celebrity’s share of money for popularizing the business. Let’s also consider celebrities spreading word about fundraising campaigns- people are much more likely to donate to campaigns promoted by celebrities, as a form of trust is established between the donator and the organization; the good that these celebrities do with their fame is almost never encouraged.
Moreover, let’s not forget that a celebrity’s net worth is majorly made of the royalties they earn on their movies. Who watches these movies? The public. The more they watch, richer the celebrities get. The public that questions their net worth, is the same public that builds it. People are quick to say “Pay celebrities less, teachers more,” but not one of them say “Buy less from Reliance and more from thrift stores, because Mr. Ambani doesn’t deserve to get richer for the same amount of work (if not more) he put in, as the thrift store owner.”
Therefore, in my opinion, due to obvious reasons, celebrities and sports stars should not get paid a single penny less.
Featured Image Courtesy – Insider
