President’s Star Charity Show- is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?

President’s Star Charity Show- is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?

Over the past few years, we have seen numerous charity shows which are able to raise millions of dollars for all kinds of organisations which range from hospitals to cancer foundations to homes for the disabled and retarded. It is therefore unanimous in public view that charity shows are a great help to those who are unfortunate and not as well-off as most of us are. However, recently, a debate has been raging over whether charity shows need to have famous artistes from Mediacorp and even overseas perform dangerous stunts to milk the public’s compassion, so as to get more donations.

On one hand, there are members of the public who believe that compassion comes from within our hearts. They argue that performances by celebrities and dangerous stunts which show that artistes are risking their life to appeal for donations are redundant and do not serve the purpose and mission of the President’s Star Charity Show. I feel that even if there is no show whatsoever, people who are willing to donate will donate. These kind Samaritans do not need a reminder in the form of a charity show to donate as they have the correct mindset in their hearts, which is the fact that they are donating because they wish to support the less fortunate, rather than donating because they are touched that celebs are performing stunts that risk their own lives for helping the less fortunate. I feel that the charity shows have misguided us in our aims, because we are now donating more because the songs are nice, not because we are more compassionate. This can be seen in many reports that list the most popular song, dance, or performance items in terms of the number of donation calls that came in during the performance.

However, some people believe that artistes do indeed need to perform to increase the overall effectiveness of the charity show. We cannot deny that performances like songs and dances and amazing stunts do attract and increase the number of people watching and therefore donations, they also encourage the captivated audience to donate for simply because of the fact that they are putting so much hard work into pulling off a stunt which looks as if it could cost their lives. By seeing that even famous people are giving their all for a charity, it silently inspires the audience to call in and donate more. However, I realise that instead of celebs dancing around on poles, a more effective way would be to play more clips about the beneficiaries as well as the challenges the less fortunate are facing, so as to appeal to the audiences’ emotions to achieve more generous donations. I remember on a charity show some years back, I was really and only touched by the story of this teenage boy who had a rare disease of which his bones would shatter every time he sneezed. Therefore, I think that celebs performing on charity shows are redundant and not very effective.

In conclusion, the aims of a charity show should be to touch the audience emotionally and appeal to them for donations, and I do not see how artistes performing stunts would help to achieve that. That being said, this is only my personal opinion, so I am open to criticism and comments.