Whether we are prepared to accept it or not, role models have had an influence of one form or another on us during our formative years. While we admired them and tried to emulate some aspect of their personality or adopt one of their characteristics, these role models, or more correctly, persons we admired, quite often were not even aware of our existence, or of our hopeless attempts at imitation.
In decades past, though parents hoped that their children would aspire to follow in the footsteps of say their school teachers (long gone are the days of their rank in the hierarchy), the role models of choice were mostly from the silver screen, and leading film stars, both actors and actresses and musicians, were carefully scrutinized during weekly cinema forays, mostly for fashion trends. Girls and young women copied their favourites’ hairstyles, and their male counterparts were also carefully taking mental notes of actors’ haircuts, moustaches, and the dimensions of their sideburns. (Those who were around in the 70s would remember the ‘Buddy Jack-son’.) The idolizers also paid close attention to their idols’ clothing (by which time many would have lost the plot of the film) noting the lengths of skirts — mini, midi and maxi — details of blouses and dresses, the width of the flare of bell-bottom pants, the French fly cut and the broad waist band sans buckle loops among other fads.
While films provided a level playing field for one and all to absorb the latest fashion trends, the higher income bracket households were able to afford the latest glossy magazines, which offered all the latest gossip, articles on all manner of subjects, advertisements with the prime influencers of the day hawking all kinds of products ranging from car tyres to shampoo to blenders to hair cream, and of course, fashion trends. As the golden age of magazines evolved post World War II and continued well into the nineties, the power of the influence of role models in the world of advertising increased leaps and bounds.
In the 70s, the silver-screen world found itself competing for the advertising dollar with a new behemoth, the amalgam of the sporting world and television and its definitive end product, the sports superstar. As previously elite niche sports such as Formula One racing, lawn tennis and golf, televised from idyllic settings around the globe, began to dominate the prime time hours of weekend broadcasts, the likes of Jackie Stewart, Nikki Lauda, Rod Laver, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer became household names. Other sports attracted the advertising coin of television, and thus began the unveiling of other superstars whose role model images seemed to know no limits; a new form of influencer emerged.
Some of these product pitchmen, most notably, Muhammed Ali and Ashe, quickly grasped the previously unavailable opportunity to unleash their thoughts and feelings on matters of social and political interests. Branded by ‘the Establishment’ as militant, Ali and Ashe, stood out, most notably, in their respective fights against the war in Vietnam and the system of Apartheid. Their influence in bringing and keeping these issues on the front burner cannot be readily quantified in terms of personal sacrifice, effort or value. While the powers that be may have surreptitiously tried to silence their voices, these two role models, like their baseball counterpart, Jackie Robinson, fighting baseball’s colour barrier, would not be shaken.
Unfortunately, it is no longer an exclusive club and the pool from which role models are drawn today is murky in parts. Besides film stars and sportsmen and women, rap musicians feature highly among the influencers youth imitate today. Then there are television stars and those of the reality TV genre, who are really just famous for being famous and bring no real substance to the table of life. In the shallows are the paid influencers, who came to prominence simply by virtue of posting sometimes questionable videos on their YouTube channels, or their ability to perform the latest challenge on TikTok, much to the consternation of some parents.
People have learned to cleverly manipulate the use of social media platforms to constantly flaunt their provocative lifestyles and actually get paid for advertising brands while doing so. Perhaps among the most concerning are those whose bodies might best be described as tattoo murals. They too are emulated by youth who often have no idea of the pain and exorbitant cost of laser surgery to remove just one of these tattoos. Whilst we can look back and laugh at the hideous hairstyles in our photographs, will our children be able to do the same with their permanent body art?
Should role models be eschewed? On the contrary, when carefully chosen, role models can be very positive influences on society. Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, the former Los Angeles Laker basketball superstar, is an example that springs to mind. His courageous will to openly defy the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the early 1990s, and its accompanying death knell, provided hope for many stricken with the virus.
Until one gets to that stage in life where one truly becomes one’s own person and can consciously make one’s own well-thought-out choices, one can often subconsciously remain vulnerable to the control of selected role models. As parents ponder the many pressures presented to their children, they should remember that the best influence will be the way they conduct their own lives.
