CAUSE CELEBRITIES

Last week, celebrity activism seemed to have hit an all-time, “Saturday Night Live”-parody low when a news story broke that Paris Hilton had taken on the plight of binge-drinking elephants in India. “The elephants get drunk all the time. It is just so sad,” she was quoted as saying to reporters in Tokyo.

Turned out the story was a prank. Still, it fooled plenty of people -- including the Associated Press -- because it actually seemed plausible. Who couldn’t imagine the blond heiress pouting from atop a tipsy pachyderm? Not so long ago Hilton, fresh out of jail, was planning a much-ballyhooed trip to Rwanda.

She wouldn’t have been the first starlet on a global mission. Scarlett Johansson works with Oxfam, Natalie Portman stumps for women in developing nations, and Hayden Panettiere makes waves for dolphins. Even tweens such as Dakota Fanning want to save the world. Many in Young Hollywood, especially actresses, are aligning themselves to social causes like never before. There are companies devoted to matching celebrities with charities, even a reality show in the works that hopes to capture every hug.

“We now live in the world of the actor-brand,” says Howard Bragman, founder of Fifteen Minutes PR, a Los Angeles public-relations firm that specializes in crisis management. “And for an actor, that brand is defined by the acting, the fashion and the social choices that you make.”

But these days, headlining a charity event or donating a Valentino dress worn to the Oscars to EBay is hardly enough goodwill to shape a beloved humanitarian. Thanks in part to indefatigable celebrity philanthropist Angelina Jolie, the bar is high.

For young Hollywood, walking the walk requires getting some mud on your shoes.

Case in point: Johansson, 23, recently toured India and Sri Lanka for 10 days with Oxfam. She’s due to visit Africa in February with the international relief foundation devoted to ending poverty and injustice. Portman spent time in villages in Uganda this past July with FINCA, an organization that provides small loans to global women in need. In her four years with FINCA, she has made trips to Mexico and Guatemala too.

No desire ‘to be just a talking face’

“Celebrities always tout different charities,” Portman, 26, said on TV’s “The View” this past May. “I didn’t want to be just a talking face.”

Nor does Panettiere, the 18-year-old star of “Heroes.” Last month, she jetted to Japan to join surfers who were protesting dolphin slaughter.

Alongside activists with the Whaleman Foundation, the actress paddled out to a commercial fishing boat to voice her opposition. She left the country shortly after the incident, but was promptly slapped with an arrest warrant.

“In Hollywood, you have to wear no underwear to get any publicity,” says Panettiere, who started working with the marine-life foundation two years ago. “So I didn’t expect it to get so much attention. Even Perez Hilton blogged about it!”

A quick scan of comments on Hilton’s notoriously celeb-scorching website shows that readers were divided on Panettiere’s efforts. Cynics called her action a media ploy, but others likened her to Jolie. “She’s all charitable and cute. LOVE HER,” read one post.

Major media focus on a certain cause can spur more than online geysers of affection. When Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper last year, it was reported that donations to the fund soared to $500,000.

For FINCA, with its decidedly unsexy mission to educate people about “micro-financing,” Portman’s support is like sweet jam on dry, wheat toast. “Having Natalie Portman out there means that we can engage a younger audience,” says Patrick McCormick, marketing and communications manager for the foundation. Portman also has spoken at colleges, including Columbia University and Harvard, to spread the word. “That’s tremendously valuable for us.”

Indeed, hooking up with a young talent can take years off a charity. FINCA now boasts a MySpace page and a CD that can be downloaded from iTunes, with songs curated by Portman, called “Big Change: Songs for FINCA.” The album includes singles by the Shins and Norah Jones.

“We are definitely trying to get to younger celebrities,” says Lyndsay Cruz, who oversees Oxfam’s outreach to public figures in Los Angeles. The organization is talking to the Olsen twins and Rachel Bilson. (All three actresses became interested after hearing Bono speak at a U2 concert.) “You want to find people who have great reach and are compassionate and articulate.”

Such was the case with Johansson, who connected with Oxfam in 2004, when she was filming “Match Point” in London. A year later, she read about the lingering effects of the tsunami in Sri Lanka and wanted to see restoration efforts firsthand.

“I was really curious to see what it was like because we didn’t hear a lot about Asia and Indonesia after the tsunami,” Johansson says. “What happened with all the donations people made? I wanted to see the aftermath.”

Johansson was so moved by the children she met at a poverty-stricken school in India that she donated enough money to pay for three years of operating expenses. “I’m so fortunate that I have the means to travel across the globe,” she says. “Now, I can tell people that this is great place to make a donation because I went there and experienced it all firsthand.”

Jolie, it should be noted, made her first foray into philanthropy at age 26 in 2001 while filming “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” in Cambodia. She subsequently went on an 18-day field mission to refugee camps in Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Since then, she has visited more than a dozen countries, supported multiple causes and donated millions to charity.

No doubt, this is no hobby for Jolie. Still, it’s hard not to notice that her image has also become practically gilded since the days when she was ducking barbs for deep kissing her brother at the Oscars or purportedly stealing Brad Pitt away from Jennifer Aniston.

Britney Spears has taken note. Just this week, in a bid to land some good press, the emotionally turbulent singer auctioned off a signed copy of her new CD on EBay to support UNICEF. It may have been her first noncontroversial move in months.

“We like to think that celebrities do this for philanthropic reasons,” says Rita Tateel, founder of the Celebrity Source, which pairs famous faces with corporate events and nonprofit causes.

“But, really, it’s part of the business model and that’s why young Hollywood is getting involved.”

Even tweens are hip to the importance of altruism. Last month, Variety launched a nonprofit initiative to highlight junior Hollywood’s philanthropy and sponsored a Power of Youth event that drew Fanning, Miley Cyrus and Raven Symone.

“In Hollywood, there are bright, young kids who understand social issues like global warming,” Bragman says. “In Washington, there’s a 60-year-old guy making fun of it.”

“It’s such an exciting time for youth culture,” says Johansson, who plans to take a trip with Oxfam every year. “I don’t think we’ve seen such a surge in interest about what is happening in the world since the ‘60s.”

As for Hilton, there has been no word whether her jaunt to Rwanda will ever happen. The outing was originally planned by Playing for Good, a new charity organization geared to celebrities. Hilton’s debut as a humanitarian was to be fodder for a new reality show called “The Philanthropist.” Think “The Simple Life” meets “Ghandi.”

“We’re restructuring the organization, but we hope to reschedule Paris’ trip for next year,” says Maria Bravo, co-founder of Playing for Good. “I don’t think she will stop going to clubs. But hopefully, she can combine doing good with fun and not drinking and driving.”

Some might prefer that she leave the heavy lifting to the less flighty.

“In this town, you’re guilty by association just by being a young girl,” Panettiere says. “I hope that this isn’t a flavor-of-the-month trend for young Hollywood.”

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monica.corcoran@latimes.com

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The Buck Starts Here

Here are a few ways to do good:

Oxfam -- A collective of 13 agencies that works in 100 countries to end poverty and injustice. Donate $20 to provide a pair of school uniforms to a needy child. Find out more at oxfamamerica.org.

FINCA -- Funds low-income entrepreneurs -- mostly female -- so that they can create jobs and build assets. Download the Portman-curated charity CD at apple.com and learn about FINCA at villagebanking.org.

The Whaleman Foundation -- The primary mission is to educate decision makers on laws that affect dolphins, whales and porpoises. A donation will support the production of the film, “Alaska’s Tongass: Rainforest of the Whales.” Go to whaleman.org.