ABSTRACT
The author presents the rise of celebrity public diplomacy inside the UN system and concludes that overall, the presence of public figures largely enhances the brand of the UN as an institution. He argues that celebrity ambassadors are most successful when they are linked to core causes at the core of the UN’s mandate. Celebrities have much greater access to mass publics along with their access to government leaders and this process of interaction gives them some comparative advantage. The author acknowledges some of the drawbacks to too much reliance on celebrities who are not as easily controllable in message construction and dissemination in concert with UN goals.
