“Celebrities Strengthening Our Culture of Democracy” study published by Harvard Ash Center

By: Katherine Hernandez , Program Manager at Impactual LLC

Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has published a new report, Celebrities Strengthening Our Culture of Democracy, authored by our very own president and founder, Ashley Spillane . This report analyzes civic engagement campaigns undertaken by Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington, Billie Eilish, Trevor Noah, Hailey Bieber, David Dobrik and Questlove across the 2018, 2020, and 2022 election cycles. The report focuses specifically on nonpartisan voter participation efforts – such as general voter education, registration, and mobilization – rather than actions taken on behalf of a specific candidate or political party. 

Through interviews, research, and message testing, Ashley crafted key takeaways to guide celebrities and their teams on how to promote civic engagement, as well as advice for nonprofit organizations looking to work with athlete, artist, and celebrity teams in order to run impactful campaigns. Whether it be direct-to-camera PSAs urging moviegoers to vote, or encouraging audience members to sign up as poll workers, there is value in celebrities utilizing their platforms for civic engagement. 

Click here to read the full report as well as CNN 's coverage by Elizabeth Wagmeister featuring an interview with Ashley here.

One way celebrities can use their platforms ahead of this year’s election is through an exciting new civic engagement campaign, The Purple Tour: Party to the Polls. This year, DAYBREAKER has teamed up with dozens of the most highly respected nonpartisan, nonprofit civic organizations to host 1,000+ person events at 50+ early vote locations nationwide with a goal of driving increased youth participation in early voting. Celebrities can get involved by coming out to an event and voting in community, uplifting the tour to followers, encouraging their celebrity networks to do the same, and more! 

Kerry Washington says it best: “I want people to know that whatever the issue is that you care about, your right to vote is central to having a voice. If we don’t vote, we silence our ability to have opinions.”

We want to extend a huge thank you to all the interviewees and organizations who helped make this report possible! I am a voter., Influence Change 2020, HeadCount Org, Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis, Power the Polls, Andy Bernstein, Nicole Tibshraeny-Butler, Debra Cleaver, MANDANA DAYANI, Shomik Dutta, Joe Hines, Danny Hogg, Erika Soto Lamb, Toby Lelliott, Shawn Sachs, Natalie Tran, Tappan Vickery, Ben Wessel, Erin Lange, Juliette Boberg, Katherine Hernandez, Zoe Gelman, Jeffrey Seglin, Carolyn Fiddler, Archon Fung, and Dawn White.