Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony sold the pictures of their newborn twins for $6 million.
Later that year, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt sold their newborn twins’ picture for a reported $10 million.
“They got money for [baby pictures], but can’t feed the poor.” -Tupac
So now there is incessant clamoring for the first pictures of Hip Hop’s royal princess, Blue Ivy Carter, born earlier this month. Aside from being the youngest person ever to be on the Billboard charts, courtesy of her dad, Jay-Z, sampling her first cry on a track entitled, “Glory,” baby girl Blue Ivy could add to her already bountiful coffer with the sale of her baby picture. While her candid will not fetch $10 million dollars in this market, in which the magazine business struggles with low sales and readership, she will definitely (and easily) earn more than a million for the exclusive rights to her first picture (if her parents decide to do so).
What does this say about our culture?
There is an obsession with having the first or being the first to have an item. Never forget the mayhem over the exclusive re-release of the Air Jordan’s 11, also known as the “Concords.” Lives were lost over being the first with them, over having the exclusive.
At breakfast with a few colleagues, one teacher remarked, “Buying baby pictures seems like something a pedophile would do.” Thought-provoking.
Let me clarify, I see nothing wrong with baby Carter’s parents selling her picture (if they decide to do it) for millions; they did not create this indulgent society and system in which we reside. I do wonder what the reaction would be if they chose not to sell the picture. What if they refuse to have their daughter’s picture plastered over millions of magazine covers, blog sites, and the ever-growing internet, would they receive praise or backlash for it?
What do you think?
Between The World and Me 