TopBlogContent

Child Wins Contest, But at What Cost?

December 29th, 2007

Opinion

“My daddy died this year in Iraq. I am going to give mommy the Angel pendant that daddy put on mommy when she was having me. I had it in my jewelry box since that day. I love my mommy.”

That is the text of an essay written by 6 year old Alexis, winner of the Libby Lu Hannah Montana essay contest. The lucky girl won a Libby Lu makeover plus tickets to see Montana live in NY in January, including airfare and accommodations. She even won a special Hannah Montana goodie bag. What little girl wouldn’t go to the end of the earth for such an opportunity?

Alexis made that trek—accompanied every step by her mother Priscilla Ceballos, who wanted her daughter to win at any cost. The end result was this: they created the entire tale of Alexis’s father dying in Iraq; in fact there’s no soldier involved whatsoever. Priscilla has admitted that she and her daughter “ […] did whatever we could do to win.”

Club Libby Lu, who chose Alexis’s entry presumably out of sympathy, is reviewing the matter. Their rules didn’t stipulate the entries needed to be true, and Priscilla is using that as the excuse for her behavior. As it presently stands, Alexis and Priscilla will retain the prize.

Detail of photograph by Jim Simonson. Some rights reserved.

Club Libby Lu’s glamorous stores are a great deal of fun for young girls. Even for older ones—I visited and made my own cosmetics there for the experience when I was in my mid-twenties. Yet if the company awards Alexis the prize they will be committing an injustice. They will teach impressionable children that taking advantage of loopholes, if not outright lying and cheating, is acceptable.

For the daughters of fathers who truly have died in Iraq, it’s a slight. Club Libby Lu should be ashamed to award a prize to a girl who claimed such a tragedy simply to win, when there may well have been children applying who’ve endured the real deal and remained silent. Lying to win is bad enough without also cheapening the sacrifices and suffering of others, which is precisely what Libby Lu will allow Alexis and Priscilla to do if they don’t revoke the prize.

I’m disappointed in Club Libby Lu and I hope as they review the situation they will reconsider their approach. Just because an essay contest could be open to creative interpretation doesn’t mean that lying—and however you paint it, it’s a lie—should be tolerated.

Sources & More information:

Fox Dallas / Fort Worth
MSNBC
The Dallas Morning News
WFAA
Wizbang
Yahoo News

Entry Filed under: Hot, The Buzz