by Mariam Nundu

Created on: October 30, 2008

Celebrities are human beings just like the rest of us and thus they too have rights. In the same token then celebrities have the right to sell their babies pictures whether we agree with it or not. In some cases one can see why a certain celebrities will choose to sell his/her baby pictures. It seems in our celebrity-obsessed culture, the bigger the celebrity the more we (ordinary folks) want to know everything possible about them.

Now, I know that some will disagree with the idea that we, as a culture/society, are obsessive about the celebrities. However the proof is in the picture. Newspapers, magazines and so on are businesses that require money to grow and thus the fact that they are prepared to spend ridiculous sums of money to buy photos of certain celebrities babies is indeed a reflection of us: the buying public. It is true that if we didn't buy these magazines and newspapers in masses each time certain celebrities' babies are featured, then the publishers wouldn't be too keen on the pictures either. However the nature of any business is such the high the demand for any product the higher the profit (potential profit) when that demand is met.

Celebrities have become (thank to us, the buying public) nothing more than 'commodities'. We want to not only pay to see them at work, be in acting in a film or singing in a concert, but also we wish to own as much of their lives as possible. Their babies are of course part of their lives and that too we wish to buy. In this way we have created the paparazzi phenomenon. In so much as because the demand for certain celebrities babies is higher than others, anyone who can get the pictures of such a celebrities babies stand to make high sums of money as magazines and newspapers will battle to have the pictures first. We reward those who satisfy this need to own as much of the celebrities lives as possible, as quickly as possible. It's no wonder the media battle for the 'exclusive pictures of celebrities babies' rages on.

Some celebrities frankly have no choice but to sell the pictures of their babies. This becomes the only way that they can obtain some form of control and privacy or even safety to their families and babies. It was only recently that a paparazzo was caught trying to break into Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's house following the birth of their twins. Lured by the high sums of money that can be earned for that all 'exclusive' shop of certain celebrities babies; paparazzi are increasing taking higher risks to get the pictures. The general public has also warmed up to this potential to earn large sums just by been in the right place at the right time. Again the case of Michael Jackson's children photographed by a member of the public who happened to be staying at the same hotel, which has a policy that bars paparazzi, as the super-star and his children is another example. This further illustrates how taking the picture of the right celebrity's baby(ies) can feel like winning the lottery.

The problem with this of course is that those babies whose pictures have been paid for, sometimes costing millions of dollars, are starting their lives already viewed as 'commodities' for the public, whether their parents intended it or not. What impact this factor will have on them remains to be seen. Perhaps the more appropriate question should be 'Is it right for us to pay to see celebrities babies pictures?'. For it won't be until we (the buying public) choose not to buy such pictures, will this obsession and it's implication for the future of these innocent babies end.

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