Do Celebrities Have the Power to Influence Politics?

With the US 2016 presidential election creeping every closer, this week Luxe Models thought we’d ask whether a few celebrity endorsements could swing the result.

Power of celebrity

Celebrities are aspirational figures. People look up to them, and the role model status of famous faces can translate into big bucks, as companies often hire celebrities to serve as the faces of their latest products. The most obvious one we can think of is Cheryl Fernandez-Versini. Since she was hired as the face of L’Oréal, she has generated attention, press and above all revenue for the beauty firm.

US election

So we know that celebrities have power, but do they have the power to influence who’s elected to government? We may be about to find out. Even though it’s over a year away, campaigning for the 2016 US presidential election has already begun. The presence of one man outrage-machine Donald Trump, who’s running to represent the Republican Party, has already made this contest one to watch!

Speaking of Republicans, they’ve managed to rack up a few celebrity endorsements so far, but we doubt they’ll do the GOP any good. Chuck Norris is the most famous person to endorse a Republican candidate so far. In contrast the Democrats have attracted heavy hitters including Beyoncé, Lena Dunham Jennifer Lopez, Snoop Dogg and Kerry Washington.

Oprah effect

So if celebrities have the power to influence politics then as things stand, the Democrats look set to sweep the board in 2016. Yet how useful is the endorsement of a celebrity of Beyoncé’s calibre? This issue was recently analysed by the Guardian.

The article looked at a study that was conducted to determine how much of an effect Oprah’s endorsement of Barack Obama had on the 2008 election, which he won. It found that “Obama did better than expected in areas where more people subscribed to O magazine.” For any of you that didn’t already know, O is the personal magazine of Oprah Winfrey (yeah, she’s that awesome)!

Fame = influence

The study found that the more famous the celebrity, the more influence they had in the political arena. This isn’t surprising to us here at Luxe Models because it makes sense; people like Oprah Winfrey are trendsetters in everything that they do, why wouldn’t they be able to set political trends too? 

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Five of the Best Celebrity Friendships Ever!

Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato have finally put their ridiculous feud behind them. We’ve decided to celebrate this fantastic news here at Luxe Models by revealing the five best celebrity friendships ever!

Burying the hatchet

There’s nothing we love more here at Luxe Models than a famous friendship. Back in the late 00’s there was no better match than Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. They were both Disney stars, both fabulous and both ladies knew how to make a bold fashion statement. They had a bit of a falling out last year, but according to Movie TV Tech Geeks they made up last week, posting a selfie online to prove that this famous friendship is back on!

Famous pals

This heart-warming news got many of us at Luxe Models thinking about all the other headline-spinning famous friendships that have cropped up over the years. Here are five that we believe show the true value of friendship!

• Cox and Aniston: Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox met on the set of their hit show Friends in the 90s and never looked back. Since the wildly popular programme ended in 2004 Cox and Aniston have remained incredibly close, and Courtney even served as maid of honour at Jen’s wedding this year!

• Barrymore and Diaz: In the mould of Cox and Anniston, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz became friends when they starred in Charlie’s Angels together. Now they’re total besties, with Barrymore once commenting that "we spent every waking moment together for months and months – and years!" 

• Gomez and Swift: Selena Gomez’ bond with Taylor Swift has endured for years! The two media darlings have been friends since their earliest days, despite the fact that Gomez recently played Swift’s mortal enemy in the short for ‘Bad Blood!’

• Damon and Affleck: We just had to include at least one ‘bromance,’ and what better pair to pick than Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two hunky A-listers have been friends since childhood, eventually writing and starring together in critically lauded Good Will Hunting, maintaining a strong-bond ever since.

• Beckham and Longoria: When Victoria Beckham and husband David upped sticks and moved out to L.A. in 2007, the former Spice Girl became fast friends with Eva Longoria. The Desperate Housewives star opened up about the relationship this year, with the Daily Mail reporting that Longoria said “we're best friends and have shares lots of life lessons together.”

Lasting friendship

With these examples to follow, Gomez and Lovato have a lot to live up to now that they’ve finally revived their epic friendship. As Cox, Anniston, Barrymore, Diaz, Gomez herself, Swift, Damon, Affleck, Beckham and Longoria have already shown, a Hollywood bond can last a lifetime!

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An Apology to the People of Greece

Luxe Models wants to take the opportunity this week to issue an apology to the people of Greece. We’re so sorry you were invaded recently by the cast of Geordie Shore!

Mortal moments

Have you ever seen the Buzzfeed video, ‘Americans watch Geordie Shore for the first time?’ If you haven’t, get online and watch it now! During this hilarious clip, one observer noted that “this makes Jersey Shore look scripted” and that “it’s like Jersey Shore on steroids,” and they just about hit the nail on the head!

Since its launch in 2011, the ever-revolving cast of this hellish reality T V show have created a variety of “mortal moments,” that have shocked people around the UK. Binge drinking, stripping, flashing, sex, violence; absolutely nothing is off limits, and this might explain why the Jersey Shore knock off has aired for a total of ten seasons!

Tears, tantrums and turbulence

The Newcastle-based reality TV hit is due to enter its 11^th season, which will premiere on MTV at 10pm on 20^th October 2015. The new 10-episode run saw cast mates Gaz, Charlotte, Holly, Scotty T, Marnie, Aaron, Kyle, Nathan and Chloe fly off to Greece!

We kid you not; Digital Spy reported that the 11^th season would see the Geordie Shore cast spend time on the Greek Islands of Malia, Mykonos and Zante. Each island is a known party hotspot, attracting scores of British revellers every year (we’re sorry). We know how much the stars of this bonkers TV programme love to hit the floor and get “mortal,” so we can only imagine how all this turned out!

Yet we don’t have to imagine, as Holly spoke out on what to expect from season 11. She said that "we take Geordie Shore to colossal heights in this series. Expect more tears, tantrums and turbulence than ever before!" Chloe, who joined Geordie Shore in season 10, added that "series 10 was unreal, but series 11 is magnificent and I know that is a big word for us but I've got cleverer and my dancing is better and I'm actually alright looking."

Sorry Greece!

With tears, tantrums, turbulence and whatever Chloe was going on about on the horizon, it looks like things are going to get really ‘mortal’ on Geordie Shore! We know you’ve already had the dubious pleasure of hosting this rabble of weird crazy idiots, people of Greece, so all we can do is apologise and hope they didn’t cause too much trouble!

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Taylor Swift, All is Forgiven!

The Luxe Models team has decided to forgive pop star Taylor Swift for trotting out her endless supply of celeb pals every chance she gets. Why? She recruited one of the best Friends ever to jam with the crowd at one of the latest shows on the 1989 World Tour!

Bad Blood with Taylor

She may be adorable, amazing and like, the nicest person on the planet, but Luxe Models has a little bit of ‘Bad Blood’ with Taylor Swift. We’re sick of her parading her truckload of famous friends at every available opportunity.

Apparently we weren’t the only ones who were tired of the side-show. Last week we reported that a writer called Lara Schoenals decided to create the Taylor Swift Parody you need to see. We have to admit that we re-watched it recently for the purposes of this article, and it’s freaking amazing!

Enter Phoebe Buffay

Yet as you might have guessed from the title of this article, Luxe Models has decided to forgive Taylor for bringing out her A-list ‘squad’ every chance she gets. The person who’s responsible for this remarkable turnaround? Lisa Kudrow a.k.a. Phoebe Buffay from Friends.

We have to make it crystal clear, we really love Phoebe. She was the off-beat, quirky one in Friends who was a hipster before the hipster even became a thing. The team at Luxe Models genuinely believe that Miss Buffay’s penchant for zany outfits teamed with wacky accessories kicked off a style movement that has gone on to conquer the world of fashion.

Smelly Cat ft. Taylor Swift

The kookiest of the Friends roster was also the voice behind fictional one hit wonder ‘Smelly Cat.’ This iconic jam took over the world back in the 90s and if we’re being completely honest, we still remember the words; it was that awesome! Do you see where we’re going with this?

Radio Times recently reported that Swift invited Kudrow on the stage at the Staples Centre in L.A. to perform a duet of ‘Smelly Cat.’ Honestly it makes sense; we all know how much T-Swizzle loves her felines! You need to watch this video. It’s so amazing that it’ll have you crying with laughter within seconds, as you suddenly remember just why you fell in love with the ‘Mine’ singer in the first place.

Coolest duet… ever

After this duet, we had no choice but to forgive her. A performance of this magnitude will surely go down in pop culture history as one of the coolest moments of all time. At this point, the ‘Shake It Off’ hit maker can do pretty much whatever she wants, we don’t care anymore! 

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