Friday, January 14, 2011

Mini-Snooki? This is not OK

"I've always said, you're never too young to look bangin'," says Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi as she prepares to make over squeaky clean 11-year-old Jessica in her image.

Um.... yes. Yes, you are. Eleven is way too young to "look bangin'."



The Jersey Shore star slathers bronzer and eye shadow on the pre-teen before ratting her hair and enveloping her in a cloud of hairspray as part of the "Snookification." Snooki sprays her own hair for good measure, then dresses the girl in an animal-print tank top "for the perfect Snooki look." She presents her as "Mini-Snooki" and they pose together for the camera.

Who thought this was a good idea?

While I'm not a huge fan of the slut-it-up Halloween costume trend starting earlier and earlier, at least there's a reason behind it. These kids may look outlandish and ridiculous, but they're not on MTV (though now they are all over the internet, and that's an issue unto itself). But 11-year-olds aren't known for their ability to separate reality and fantasy very well -- remember the infamous Jessi Slaughter videos? -- and the cast members of Jersey Shore are questionable role models. This isn't an example of a kid trying to emulate Miley Cyrus and her transformation from sweet Disney star to hyper-sexualized pop tart; this is a case where adults are dressing an 11-year-old up as a hard-partying, hot-tub hopping "guidette" for their own entertainment.

I really don't think we need to be encouraging preteens to be like Snooki. It's one thing to have scores of young adults inspiring to reality television fame, but 11-year-olds? They don't need to "look bangin'." They need to look -- and act -- like 11-year-olds.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The kid's looking at her like, "what the hell are you doing to me?"