Fake News: Disinformation, Deception, and Magical Thinking Over Time

Celebrity Endorsement

There is a very good reason companies use celebrities in their advertisements to sell goods and services. The association of a celebrity with a certain product, phrase, idea, etc. is an effective tool for persuasion. Famous people weighed in on the issues in this exhibit and were instrumental in affecting their outcomes. 

I. When Arthur Conan Doyle published the Cottingley Fairies in the respectable magazine The Strand, he put his stamp of approval on the photographs, and was likely responsible for their staying power in the coming decades. 

II. Ben Franklin stepped into the smallpox debate, unfortunately spreading misinformation via major publications of the day.

III. The cigarette industry was infamous for using celebrities to sell smoking. See this advertisement with Amelia Earhart, which was intended to have particular appeal to women. 

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