• Who's Being Exploited?

  Posted Monday, April 28, 2008 3:02 PM | By Bonnie Goldstein
  
  
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  I sympathize with Hanna's request that Miley Cyrus put on a robe, but I have lower expectations for magic in the Magic Kingdom.  With no children or grandchildren in the Miley Cyrus target demographic, I nearly missed the Hannah Montana phenomenon except for the unavoidable Disney juggernaut marketing of  former country singer Billy Ray Cyrus’ offspring. (I am reminded that "Achy Breaky Heart" was a hit in 1992.) To me the come-hither Miley VF shots seem relatively tame and designed to widen the teenager’s fan base. (The pictures of Miley with her boyfriend don’t look any more provocative than photos any 15-year-old with a boyfriend might post on MySpace.) I was more annoyed to see the spin obliquely blames the 15-year-old's semi-nude Vanity Fair exposure on photographer Annie Leibovitz, a professional who has been coaxing photography subjects since Mick Jagger was a boy. The story reminded me of the February Lindsay Lohan photo spread in New York magazine where the Disney Parent Trap star (and more recently rehab darling) replicated Marilyn Monroe's famous 1962 “boozy nudes.” When she was criticized, Lohan publicists hinted photographer Bert Stern, who shot both the original Monroe and Lohan re-creation sessions, was to blame.
  Filed under: Miley Cyrus, Annie Liebovitz, Disney
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