ABSTRACT

The influence of economic factors in the popularization of celebrity has been a key preoccupation since the first works investigating the phenomenon were published. This chapter attempts to develop a distinctive facet of this phenomenon by analysing the emergence of a dynamic that further complicates the relationship among celebrity, visibility, and economic interests. It examines the economic benefits that accrue to celebrities participating in activism. The chapter argues that celebrity participation in environmental, social, and humanitarian actions is able to produce a kind of symbolic capital, hereby denominated solidarity capital, which can be accumulated and later converted into economic capital. Solidarity capital shares the capacity of conversion into materiality, in the economic sense; nonetheless, it is distinguished from visibility and celebrity capital by its connection to the moral field. The greater the credibility of a celebrity’s humanitarian or environmental commitment and the greater exposure they get, the greater the appeal of their solidarity capital.