Layne's Weblog

And the bacon! Pregnancy is not only the hot body trend in Hollywood right now, but it is also the ticket to millions. After selling pictures of your baby, the kid has practically paid for itself!  

Which celebs are engaging in this baby bottle prostitution? Christina Aguilera received $1.5 million for Max’s mug shot, and J.Lo is soon to follow. Advertising Age reported that Jenny from the Block will take home nearly $6 million for selling pictures of the twins. Nicole Richie and baby girl Harlow hit newsstands this Friday on the cover of People Magazine. Angelina Jolie “justified” plastering her kid’s faces on magazines by donating some of the baby bucks to charities. Scientology Cruise and Submissive Holmes kept us waiting for what seemed like centuries before they revealed their beautiful little alien Suri. Britney Spears sold pics of her kids…and we all know how that turned out.

Some child psychologists, however, are troubled by what they deem exploitation. Celebrities say that they are controlling the media coverage that would result anyway from the paparazzi. Selling pictures to magazines is much less obtrusive and dangerous than people fighting to snap pictures of newborns. I wonder though, is this really just fueling the fire? America wants to see celeb’s baby pictures so badly, but haven’t these magazine spreads conditioned us to feel that way?

I would advise against selling baby pictures, even though it does garner decent publicity. I’m afraid a backlash might come as a result of the Jennifer Lopez deal. People have already started talking, and Americans might soon realize the lack of rationale behind such an absurd practice. Also, what happens as the kids grow up? Do we want to be there for every birthday; the first day of school; the first kiss? There is a point where the line is crossed and it becomes too abnormal to expose children to this kind of publicity. How will these kids discern the difference between people following them on the street taking pictures and sitting on a set with hot lights for hours as cameras flash away? The bottom line is that these kids are selling magazines and also selling their parents. Remember Joan Crawford? Years and years ago she put the faces of her adopted children all over magazines and took them with her to radio interviews. She force fed those kids to America… and then came “Mommy Dearest.”

 Obviously, besides Britney Spears, most celebrity mothers aren’t as crazy as Joan Crawford. Most of them do honestly want to show their beautiful children to the world with the hope that a legitimate photo shoot will help decrease the paparazzi. I just think there must be a better way of showing off their kids without making millions. Perhaps, celebrities could do the shoot for free under the condition that the magazine donates a percentage of its salesto the charity of their choice. This would probably sell even more copies so the magazines wouldn’t likely lose money. Celebrities claim that money isn’t the driving force behind these pictures, and if that is the truth then something like this shouldn’t be a problem. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/CelebSnapshots/popup?id=2367213&contentIndex=1&page=2