Yeah, while I think it's certainly worth bearing in mind that someone doing something like this - Jamie Oliver in this instance, it was Hugh Fearnly-Whatshisface a year or two ago - *may* be doing it for cynical reasons, to just blindly assume that it's the case is extremely, well, cynical.
Without the altruistic aura- the empire falls. This is all marketing for the Jamie brand. The fact that the series will also spawn a best selling book and is sponsored by Sainsburys (and very much in tune with their current ad’ campaign- the type of coincidence that caused pound note loving Jamie to leave the Beeb way back when) is a nice bonus.
And to be honest, if a few more people buy
The Naked Chef because of this show, is that really so terrible? I mean, if people are going to start cooking, it might be an idea for them to buy a book on the subject, no? Doesn't have to be his, but if it is, so what?
I think there's a wider sort of reflex cynicism at work here that automatically assumes that anyone who is fairly well-known and wants to help other people is invariably doing so for wholly ulterior motives, almost to the point where you have to wonder if having a public profile and a bit of money makes you morally ineligible to try and do anything altruistic. Maybe it's all Bono's fault, who knows. But in the end, someone who's a household name and appears on telly a lot has the capacity to help a given cause far more than Joe Bloggs who sends his two quid to Oxfam every month.