'Hypocritical investor' or hollywood 'do-gooder'? A framing analysis of media and audiences negotiating Leonardo DiCaprio's 'green' persona through his involvement in Formula E

Leonardo DiCaprio has a considerable track record as a fervent campaigner to save the environment and combat climate change. Drawing from his more recent activist engagements to endorse Formula E, the world’s first fully electric racing series, this contribution aims to analyse how and in what ways this generates additional exposure and appreciation for the series, the environment and DiCaprio. To this end, a qualitative and inductive framing approach is used to examine a sample of online media articles and accompanying audience comments from 2013, 2015 and 2017, resulting in a range of frames found in media coverage and audience reactions. It shows how framing of Leonardo DiCaprio is influenced by both his life story as an actor, activist and party boy, the appreciation he receives from audiences as well as by audiences’ own personal experiences with health-related issues and their conversations with peers. Finally, this contribution discusses varying tendencies by media articles and audiences to frame Leonardo DiCaprio as both hero and hypocrite as well as its wider implications.

Publication year:2021

Keywords:A1 Journal article

Accessibility:Open