Jeff Springer
All over America, arenas are filled with young girls and their mothers engulf in the persona of one Miley Cyrus, Walt Disney’s Hannah Montana. Not only do they attend her concerts, but they also are buying her merchandise to an estimated tune of 1 billion dollars in 2008. These mothers and young girls see Miley as a role model. Someone that portrays the message of a “good girl.”
Thanks to Vanity Fair this has all changed.
Fifteen-year-old Walt Disney superstar and her advisers got this wild idea from some marketing genius to pose topless for Vanity Fair. That being said, she was semi-covered by a satin sheet, but who in their right mind gave her the go ahead for this? She’s 15 years old for God’s sake. The backlash is going to be far and wide.
Mothers who have seen these photos are outraged and are concerned of this new image that Miley is trying to convey. Let’s face it, whether they like it or not, kid stars seldom every get past the personal brand they build as kids. Sorry Ms. Miley Cyrus you will always be known as Hannah Montana and after this last stunt you could be seen more like celebrity trainwreck Britney Spears.
If you want to destroy your brand here are a few tips by Miley Cyrus:
- Forget who your audience is.
- Listen to advisers who only have their best interest in mind
- Think your product (you) is something that it’s not.
- Get business tips from someone who is still recovering from an “Achy Breaky Heart.”
- Forget what made you a success and how you got there.
For Ms. Miley Cyrus’s sake she better have a good PR firm to help smooth this one over. If not you can say goodbye to another teen star ruined by a marketing team that doesn’t understand what suburban girls and their mothers are buying into.
