Disney (NYSE: DIS) needs more and more very young stars to appeal to the teenage demographic. Its ability to deliver this group to advertisers is critical to the company's success.
Disney recently signed 15-year old Demi Lovato to a new record deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, "For Disney, there are few more crucial tasks than finding and developing talent that appeals to 8- to 12-year-olds." The company already has big teen sensation Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana.
With all of the money being made from the TV shows, records and movies using these youngsters as talent, perhaps no one is pausing to ask whether it is good for a 15-year-old to be taken out of a fairly normal family and childhood to be paraded around the world so that Disney can make money. Although no one keeps statistics on this, it seems that these kid are more likely to have drinking, drug and personality problems within a few years of when they become extraordinarily famous.
But they are used up then, and are not of any use to Disney. So, who cares?
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-17-2008 @ 5:47PM
LJ said...
You're kidding, right? Disney is not plucking these kids from a "normal" childhood by any means. Their parents are hawking them all over town in an attempt to break into show business. If they are very lucky, Disney will give them that chance. The abnormal part of the life comes when prying news mags and photogs can't keep their nose out of the kids life and business. Or make a publicity mountain out of some normal adolescent molehill ( like the Bush girls -gasp-having a beer like all the other college kids). Yeah, some lead lives that become troublesome, it ALL comes from the media attention. Still, some kid stars , like Ron Howard, turn out perfectly fine.