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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Wrtie about the following topic:

Nowadays celebrities are more famous for their glamour and wealth than for their achievements, and this sets a bad example to young people.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:
Celebrities have always been a subject of fascination for people around the world. However, in recent years, the focus on celebrities has shifted from their accomplishments to their glamorous lifestyle and wealth. This has raised concerns among many that it may set a negative example for young people. Due to several reasons, I will disagree with this view. 

Some celebrities are more famous for their wealth and glamour than their achievements. Many young people today aspire to be like these celebrities and try to emulate their lavish lifestyles. For example, young girls idolize famous models and actresses who flaunt their designer clothes, expensive jewellery, and luxurious vacations on social media. This creates unrealistic and unhealthy expectations among young people. 

However, it is not entirely fair to blame celebrities for setting a bad example for young people. Many celebrities have worked hard to achieve success, and their wealth and glamour are merely the byproducts of their achievements. For instance, athletes who have trained rigorously for years and have won medals and trophies deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labour. Similarly, successful entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses through their hard work and dedication should be able to enjoy their wealth.

In my opinion, the problem lies not with celebrities but with the way the media portrays them. The media often focuses on their glamorous lifestyle and wealth, rather than their achievements, to attract more viewers and readers. This has resulted in the perception that celebrities are famous only for their wealth and glamour. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the media to shift the focus back to the achievements of these celebrities and highlight the hard work and dedication that went into their success.

In conclusion, it may be true that a few celebrities are more famous for their assets and glamour than their achievements, which can set a negative example for young people. However, it is not the whole picture as most celebrities work hard to gain fame and success.

Sample Answer 2:
It is true that most of the celebrities are known for their luxurious lifestyles than for their performance or talents these days. Many people think that this kind of attitude is not a good example for the young generation. To a certain extent, I would agree that this kind of behaviour would be a bad example for the society, but there are other famous people are popular due to their outstanding accomplishment.

On the one hand, it is a fact that many famous people become popular due to their fancy lifestyle, instead of their outstanding achievement these days. Their acting talent might be standard or below the average, but they are making sensation to the public by showing their wealth and glamorous lifestyles. One of the examples would be Kim Kardashian who is famous for her reality television program, whereas it mostly shows her luxurious mansion, party and shopaholic lifestyles and less of her acting. It is believed that the behaviour would be a negative influence for the young people as it teaches them about hedonistic lifestyle.

On the other hand, there are celebrities who are popular for their incredible acts or outstanding performance. These people have shown to the world that they have reached success due to strong determination and hard work, and the public always recognise them for their masterpiece of arts and great achievements. One of the examples would be the legendary English footballer David Beckham. He was not only a good athlete but also became the model of some sports apparels. Although David Beckham sometimes had shown his glamorous lifestyle, but he had also shown to the public that he was a good football player. He had informed in his biography that to achieved success, he had to work hard in his young age, as he had to practice in doing penalty kick for around 1000 kick per day consistently. These kinds of celebrities are worth to be followed by the young generation.

In conclusion, many famous people are well known for their wealth and luxurious style, instead of their achievement and it would be a negative example for the young age people. To a certain point, I would disagree with the opinion, since there are other celebrities who are famous due to their great talent and performance. In my opinion, I think the public should be more selective in choosing their role models, not just in front of the camera, but we should also see from their personal life as well.

[ by - Darwin Lesmana ]

Sample Answer 3:
Fame and fortune are largely dependent on the hard-work, persistence, luck and creativity displayed by individuals of a society. These qualities often make them very famous and popular that the whole nation becomes anxious and curious just to get their glimpse or an autograph. Few people believe that people are popular due to their glamour and rich lifestyle. They claim that youngsters should not follow their footprint because they may lead them astray and I don’t agree fully with this proclamation. This essay will analyse the merits and demerits of idealising celebrities before presenting a conclusion.

Famous people such as movie or sports stars can be a role model for the young people of a society. Idealising and treating them as their idol can help them to achieve their required goal in life. Following their footprints can result in exploring their own talent which can further showcase marvels and brilliance. Their creativity, innovation and display of their skills and abilities inspire adolescents to bring change in their life for good. For instance, legendary Amir Khan, the famous Bollywood celebrity, is known for his inspirational and creative movies but  not for his wealth or attractive personality. Adolescents copying his qualities and attributes have promoted strong moral and ethical values in a society.

On the contrary, few people believe that following superstars and famous people displaying negativity can mislead young people of our society. Proponents of this viewpoint believe that inspiring from their negative roles and displaying the same act at home or in streets can have a severe impact on the society. Moreover, celebrities are often found in smoking advertisements, charged with drugs and other criminal activities, youth following their path can result in the destruction of ethical values of a society. For instance, Sanjay Dutt, Bollywood Actor is well known for his money and roles as a villain, his terrorist acts in different movies have given rise to violence and crime in streets of Mumbai, all these were committed by adolescents for thrill and adventure.

To recapitulate, the aforementioned provides plausible arguments in favour of both views. There is no doubt that famous people have their influence, as youth is not mature and in the growing phase of their life. However, one should not criticise the celebrities as it depends on the young people how they perceive and take it forward.

[ by - Tauseef Raza ]

Sample Answer 4:
It is certainly true that today more TV and movie personalities are better known for their glamorous look and wealth rather than their accomplishments. This will probably have a negative impact on gullible young individuals but not for the critically thinking teenagers.

The primary reason to agree with this statement is that minors are gullible. They are easily taken into those who they watch in television, movie or even in advertisements. For instance, Philippine presidential sister and TV and movie superstar, Ms. Kris Aquino is the most admired especially for the Filipino adolescents, and at the same time most dislike celebrity in the country. She came from a very powerful political family, but she uses her wealth for the sake of glamour through liposuction and spending too much for expensive branded products such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermes. This will perhaps affect believing younger people in a negative way because she is actually showing that it is alright to spend too much money for manipulating God-given body and for unnecessary costly things.

On the other hand, not all young ones are credulous; most of them are critical thinkers. So they are wisely enough not to look just the allurement and richness of TV and commercial stars but to focus their notable achievements. For example, the international boxer figure, Emmanuel "Manny" Pacquiao who was then a typical Filipino poor man, and became an extremely wealthy boxing man because of his undeniably perseverance and dedication. These are the qualities some youths in the Philippines are trying to emulate

In conclusion, I think that in my country, there are more discerning younger people than unwise ones. So they are not easily affected by just the celebrities' beautiful aura and wealth. They know which one to be emulated and that is the figure's good qualities.

[ by - Rona Lyn Olivar ]

Sample Answer 5:
Mass media enabled inviting fame to those who have a commanding presence and dominant influence, best of whom are celebrities. People follow their leads as their graceful lives set bars for glory, far less than their own achievements. As this needs imperative attention, I think it shall take a while for this concern to be addressed.

Marked by their elusive beauties, celebrities hail in all forms of media; thus, people only see their outer sophistication. Nonetheless, their achievements are commonly left unnoticed. This is mainly due to idolatry where beauty is considered an investment. Hence, in today's era, a person need someone to look up to and is perfect enough to stand out among the rest. This notion is even exacerbated by the media, to which they preserve one's outer elements as priorities.  For instance, adverts hire celebrities whose commanding influence hypnotises others to follow. This is quite hard to control since creativity is companies' best shot.

Notwithstanding the attention that artists' glamour and richness are getting, this creates a notion to people's mind to achieve something rather than to stay mediocre and plebeian. However, the point of losing one’s sight towards achievements is getting into trouble. This create a bad impact to our society since people no longer feel the hunger to do the best in their own fields instead, they want to become gorgeous, rather than a winner, because it is perceived as a trend way more than the other.

By and large, I think it has both positive and negative remarks. Albeit the fact that one is given more importance than the other, still, people consider a point of reference for standards. The drawbacks may outweigh the good points, I believe that general trends be acknowledged on their own.

[ by - Jeezreel Orquina ]

Sample Answer 6:
It is an unfortunate reality of today's world that celebrities are cherished and celebrated, not for their achievements, but merely for their fame and wealth. Youth, in particular, views such worldly possessions of celebrities as the highest mark of human achievement. No wonder this trend has devastating effects on the younger generation. To prove this, one has to analyse how youth perceives celebrities' success in general and the fact that many amongst them don't pose the right kind of image for youth to look up to.

Firstly, very few young people realise that all the fame and glory that the celebrities get to enjoy is never achieved overnight, rather it is all blood, sweat and tears. It takes years and years of struggle to get to that point, which many youngsters choose not to go through, rather, they look for shortcuts towards success. Thus, as a result, they are overcome with procrastination and laziness, which is a direct consequence of idealising the materialistic possessions of their ideals.

Secondly, one should consider the fact that a number of superstars in the entertainment business are infamous who should not be looked up to in any way. For instance, musicians who use extremely obscure lyrical themes in their music, or the actors working in biographical movies dedicated to serial killers etc. These instances show that when youth venerates such forms of entertainment, they are somehow led to believe that they can also become as famous and successful merely by imitating their so-called ideals. Hence, the negative influence of such a trend is obvious.

Having analysed how glorifying the rich people, not for their hard-earned achievements, but merely for their worldly possessions, can affect youth's perception of success, it is proven that this tendency does set a bad example. It is highly recommended that youth should be encouraged to realise that a man's worth should not be judged by his possessions, rather by the journey he goes through to achieve those possessions.

[ by - Hassan Ali ]

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