IRIN examines the use of Goodwill Ambassadors to champion development-related causes. “[T]here is no denying the global attention and resources that well-known personalities can bring to their chosen causes, … [b]ut using actors, musicians and sports stars to convey messages about potentially complex development issues has its pitfalls,” the news service writes. The article includes comments from London Metropolitan University’s Mark Wheeler; Marissa Buckanoff, head of UNICEF’s celebrity relations and partnerships division in New York; Marie-Vincente Pasdeloup, manager of Oxfam’s Global Ambassador program; Sisonke Msimang, a South Africa-based social commentator and civil society insider; and Aziyadé Poltier-Mutal, communications partnerships manager with the U.N. Development Program (Siegfried, 10/28).