More than ever, being a celebrity means being a brand. The fabulous and famous increasingly are entrepreneurs, marketing products to their adoring fan base. For example, Britney Spears, Sarah Jessica Parker, Paris Hilton and Jennifer Lopez-in addition to numerous other stars-have fragrances. Supermodel and Dancing with the Stars contestant Kathy Ireland oversees a home furnishings empire and was introduced on the show as an entrepreneur.
Junior Achievement recently surveyed 1,000 U.S. tweens and teens ages 12-17 and asked them to choose the well-known entrepreneur they most admired from a list provided. Surprisingly, teens chose a business legend from the technology sector over fashionistas, Facebook and even the Queen of Daytime. Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder responsible for bringing cool gadgets to the iPhone generation, was selected over Tony Hawk, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kimora Lee Simmons, Oprah Winfrey and Mark Zuckerberg.
Jobs received 35 percent of the votes, Winfrey 25 percent, Hawk 16 percent, Zuckerberg 10 percent, the Olsen twins seven percent and Simmons four percent. The list was focused on celebs who had started business enterprises themselves, as opposed to licensing their names and images to products produced by someone else.
Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) selected Steve Jobs because he “made a difference in/improved people’s lives or made the world a better place.” Eighty-five percent of teens who selected Oprah cited the same reason. One-third (33 percent) of those selecting Mr. Jobs cited his “success in multiple fields,” assuming teens are making a distinction between Apple’s iMac and iPod/iTunes brands.
Indicating that teens may be more altruistic than adults give them credit for, the predictable reasons why a teen might admire a hugely successful entrepreneur like Steve Jobs or Oprah Winfrey-wealth and fame-were selected by only four percent of those who admire Jobs most and three percent of those who admire Winfrey most.
To teach aspiring teen moguls how to start their own business enterprises, Junior Achievement recently unveiled its newest program, JA Be EntrepreneurialTM, created through support from the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The program, whose implementation is sponsored by UPS, is targeted to high school students. Through hands-on activities and the support of a classroom volunteer, students start and run their own business ventures.
Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, commented, “We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture, so it’s no surprise that teens admire famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey, who have built brands around their personas as well as around their products. More importantly however, given that many teens show interest in entrepreneurship, we want to provide them with the tools to start successful businesses. Junior Achievement’s programs, such as JA Be Entrepreneurial, give teens a solid foundation upon which to achieve their dreams of business ownership.”
More information about JA Be Entrepreneurial, including a series of free, supplementary podcasts, can be found at: http://www.ja.org/programs/programs_high_be_entre.shtml.
This is the seventh year that Junior Achievement has conducted the poll, which attempts to gauge teens’ attitudes around business ownership. The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation from August 20-24, 2009, and surveyed 1,000 U.S. teens ages 12-17 by telephone. The survey’s margin of error is +/- 3.2 percent.
Visit http://www.ja.org to read an executive summary of Junior Achievement’s “Teens and Entrepreneurship” survey results.
Source: JA Worldwide
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Babakool” for the heads up.]
Top Celebrity Entrepreneurs I can name off the top of my head:
(Ranked in order they come to my head)
1. Steve Jobs
2. Richard Branson
3. uh…
4. Bill Gates
5. That guy who invented the Segway
6. Brian & Larry Google
Where is Ballmer on the list?
Steve Ballmer wasn’t on the list? Shocking.
I’d hate to be a chair or a jelly doughnut in Redmond these days.
What, no T. Boone Pickens?
Kids…..
Thank god that Jobs was picked over Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen otherwise I would have had to kill myself.
” most admired from a list provided”
Thanks for providing the list, that would have been difficult.
Today’s tweens tending toward Steve Jobs, bodes well for Apple’s future.
Today’s Tweens are tommorrow’s consumer’s, today.
Yeah, the kids are alright. – NO. We won’t get fooled again! Meet the new boss, definitly NOT the same as the old boss..
(Steve, you rock.)
Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder responsible for bringing cool gadgets to the iPhone generation, was selected over Tony Hawk, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
…that’s the exact point at which my mind boggled. Steve Jobs was on the same level of consideration as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen? Oy vey…
“Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, commented, “We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture, so it’s no surprise that teens admire famous entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey, who have built brands around their personas as well as around their products. “
Oprah is a celebrity, Steve isn’t. Oprah is a brand, Steve isn’t.
I’m very impressed that the Junior Achievers chose Steve as the most admired enterpreneur.
Tweens are officially kids between 10 and 13. When I was 12, I didn’t really care about any CEO of any company, regardless of how famous he may have been back then. My main idols were rock stars and Hollywood celebrities.
It is indeed quite surprising to find out that today’s 12-year olds admire Jobs (a CEO of a tech company) more than their pre-teen celebrity idols, regardless of how altruistic any of them may be (and that includes Oprah).
Junior Achievement continues to be an amazing organization. I participated in JA program as a high school student back in the mid-80’s. Our little ‘company” won a bunch of awards, and I was honored to be one of several students chosen to represent our state at the National JA conference that year.
It taught me a lot of things that have served me well over the years, and innoculated me against a lot of cr*p that I was later exposed to in college. Chiefly:
1) The marketplace is the mechanism by which free people can elevate themselves to any economic status they choose.
2) Productivity is what makes a nation economically powerful.
3) Small businesses are what make the middle class possible.
4) Most people who’ve earned wealth through building a business aren’t evil and greedy – in fact, the opposite is true. Most are very generous with their money and their time.
5) Making something is easy. Making something that will do well in a marketplace is hard, and there is greatness in the accomplishment.
I continue to support J.A. and encourage anyone to either send them some dollars or better yet, volunteer to work with some high school kids. It’ll do them, and you, a world of good.
Oh, sure. Many teenagers (a likely majority of those youngsers without body piercings and tattoos) admire Steve Jobs. The kids who likely don’t admire Steve are the children of the Windows 7 party dorks.
“One-third of those selecting Mr. Jobs cited his “success in multiple fields,” assuming teens are making a distinction between Apple’s iMac and iPod/iTunes brands.”
Or perhaps the teens made a distinction between computer hardware, operating systems, media devices, Pixar Studios, Jobs’ role on the Disney board, being the Worlds leading marketer of music, building a retailing empire, and distributor of movies and television.
wheres trump
A Microsoft Store!?!
” rel=”nofollow”>I’m soooo <u>super</u>-happy about this!