Disgusting Ad...., page 7

The Full Story

Okay, I'm sad to say I actually have a handle on what's going on here from three perspectives: As the husband of a wife who is a slave to pop culture and the "E!" channel, as a student of photography, and from the perspective of a parent.

Miley Cyrus = Hanna Montana, a fictional character played by a fictional character. This is somewhat complex, but Miley Cyrus (daughter of Billy "Don't break my achey-whiney-no-talent-breaky heart" Cyrus) with her own music career and "acting" career as the main character of a TV show about a school girl named Miley Stewart who is famous pop singer "Hanna Montana" by night.

Here's where it gets complex. Her fan-base are mostly pre-teen girls, and they are as rabid about her as kids get about anything. They want to be like her, be with her, or just flat out be her. So anything she does carries a pretty significant consequence, whether she likes it or not.

Now, moving on. Vanity Fair is a fairly well respected magazine, and the photo shoot itself was being coordinated by Annie Leibovitz, one of America's most respected photographers, ranking up there with the likes of Ansel Adams. She did for people what he did for landscapes. Being a longtime fan of her work, I have full confidence that in the mind of Leibovitz, she didn't see anything wrong with the shoot. To her, this was simply another celebrity going through the Rite of Passage of being photog'd by the best. Once you've been in front of Annie's lens, you know you're a star, basically. Though to Annie, it's just another canvas to work with.

Two guardians were with her once her parents left, one was a family member (I think her grandmother), the other was, I believe, an agent of hers. Her parents left, and Miley was asked if she wanted to do one last photo. She was not actually nude in the shot, she was covered, and it was tastefully done.

That said, she's a minor, and her fanbase are rabid pre-teens who want to be just like her. There was a major huge error in judgment, and we really can't expect Miley to fully comprehend the rammifications of agreeing to the photo, and truthfully, I couldn't blame her grandmother either, as its unlikely she knew much about the situation. Her agent, on the other hand, should have known better. Of all the people there, he was in the best position to know Hanna's base majority demographic, what sort of media uproar would result, and the backlash against Miley's career. As an agent he should be fired and brought up on charges of criminal neglect.

That's not to say Miley shouldn't take some of the blame, I just don't think the outrage should be specifically directed at her, it should be at her agent for making an extremely poor ethical choice. I place no blame on Vanity Fair, they were simply doing what they are paid to do, and have done, for decades. I place little blame on her parents except that they should have stayed through the entire shoot. Never trust other people's judgment when your own daughter is in a position to be exploited. That was poor judgment on their part. The agent, however, should be hung out to dry.

Anyway, hopefully that brings everyone up to speed on the story.

That said, complaints about ads really need to go to the complaints submission form, not to BBQ.

[edit on 5/6/2008 by thelibra]