>I'm not immersed in it, but I do know who Miley Cyrus is.
Did you know she's writing her memoirs?
>[WS:] I do not really understand what is so special
>about being immersed in popular culture.
If you knew who Miley Cyrus was you'd know something about the tween market, a big chunk of the U.S. economy.
Another reason to be interested in pop culture is you can impress your kid. My daughter and I were behind Lindsey Lohan in the checkout line at a little grocery store on Sunday. I spotted her first and scored big points when I subtly let the kid know she was there.
"See what you learn when you cross cultures and shit?" Christopher Moltisanti
>
>Miley Cyrus, America's billion-dollar girl sensation
>
>
>
>2 days ago
>
>LOS ANGELES (AFP) Fifteen-year-old Miley Cyrus
>stars in a wildly popular Disney television
>series, sings to packed concert halls and this
>week announced the billion-dollar publication of her "memoirs."
>
>She is the idol of countless American girls, but
>experts warn Cyrus, star of "Hannah Montana"
>could be headed for a bad-girl breakdown along
>the lines of fallen pop singer Britney Spears
>and child-star turned substance-abuser Lindsay Lohan.
>
>Disney Book Group made waves with the revelation
>that Cyrus' memoir would be published in spring
>2009, with People magazine setting the windfall
>for the rising teen sensation's first book at around one billion dollars.
>
>The book is to tell the story of how the
>teenager shot to fame and yet has managed to
>keep her feet on the ground with the support of
>her family, which Cyrus said she hopes will
>"inspire kids around the world to live their dreams."
>
>At the root of Miley-mania is Disney Channel's
>"Hannah Montana" series, the story of an
>American teenager, Miley Stewart, who leads a
>normal life by day and is a pop star by night.
>It has become one of Disney's most effective marketing campaigns ever.
>
>Millions of viewers age six to 14 watch the show
>each week, in which the on-screen father of
>Miley Stewart and her alter ego Hannah Montana
>is her real life father, country singer Billy
>Ray Cyrus previously best known for singing "Achy Breaky Heart."
>
>"This phenomenon really plays into the 'anybody
>can be a star' (idea). Hannah Montana provides
>the illusion of a reality show. She's an
>everyday girl, and lives this fantastic life.
>It's really a way to market to that fantasy,"
>said Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist at the University of Southern California.
>
>Cyrus and her good-girl image is the latest
>embodiment of "a long line of these young female
>stars that are as much packaged for the
>children's parents as for the kids themselves," she said.
>
>"We kind of build up these good girls and tear
>them down when they can't live up to this
>impossible ideal," said Sternheimer, citing
>Lohan and Spears, whose drug-and-alcohol
>escapades have been well publicized, and Spears'
>younger sister Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon's
>teen series "Zoey 101" who recently announced she is pregnant.
>
>Disney has not held back when it comes to
>packaging the brown-haired, blue-eyed teenager's
>brand, which can be bought in the form of dolls,
>bed sheets, clothes, schoolbags and even video games.
>
>The original songs in the TV series have also
>sparked a buying frenzy, with more than eight
>million albums sold and a series of concerts in
>2007, tickets to 70 of which sold out within
>minutes and spiked in value on the black market.
>
>For those who couldn't make it to a live show,
>Disney released a live concert video in 2008,
>which reaped 31 million dollars in three days.
>Miley Cyrus also figured among the presenters at
>the Oscars on February 24, an event watched by hundreds of millions of viewers.
>
>"This is a huge financial bonanza for Disney,"
>said Jerry Del Colliano, an expert on the music
>industry at the University of Southern California.
>
>"You're not going to see a company that equals
>it. This is their area, young people," he said.
>"They have a tremendous reach between their
>cable channels on TV, Disney radio stations that get the kids early in life."
>
>The younger teenage market, of 11-12-year-olds
>known as "tweens," is particularly lucrative, according to Del Colliano.
>
>"The tweens buy things with parents' money. And
>interestingly enough, the parents are so taken
>into this, that they're fighting to pay the
>1,000 dollars or more for a ticket," he said.
>
>"This thing is so textbook for Disney, that you
>whip the kids into a frenzy, but also the
>parents who are the ones who pay. Parents are
>happy to spend the extra money because they feel
>that they're spending it on something that's pure."
>
>Cyrus has said her memoir will focus on "how
>important my relationship with my family is to
>me," and that she hopes "to motivate mothers and
>daughters to build lifetimes of memories together."
>
>But Del Colliano said she is likely to remain
>Disney's darling only so long as she remains young, cute and perfect.
>
>"All stars are perishable and disposable. They
>do run some risks, that these young kids become
>big stars and cross over to the slutty side.
>They got to keep them pure for a while, at least
>in the minds of the parents," he said.
>
>Sternheimer added that the moment child stars
>seems to become "real people with real problems,
>we turn on them to say the very least, the spell
>is broken. Instead of the princess, they become
>the witch, if you use Disney terms."
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwNLa7npzA56tXlURRGyhCftVU2g