Patterico's Pontifications

12/28/2007

Doing Anything for Hannah Montana Tickets (Updated)

Filed under: General — DRJ @ 9:51 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Hannah Montana is a wildly popular Disney Channel TV show and the name of the lead character played by Miley Cyrus, the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus:

“Miley Cyrus stars as Hannah Montana, a preteen who lives a secret life as a pop star. Cyrus’s real life dad, country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus, plays her dad and manager. Miley just moved from Tennessee as a country singer and now has to adapt to life in Malibu.”

Fans are desperate for tickets to the 54-city Hannah Montana tour. It’s so hot that tickets have sold out in as little as 4 minutes. In fact, fans are so desperate, they will do anything:

“An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.” While gripping, it wasn’t true — and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie.

The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls. The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.

The mother had told company officials that the girl’s father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said. She had identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.

“We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl’s holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated,” said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu. Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl’s tickets.”

I don’t have words for this but I’m sure some of you do.

UPDATE 12/29/2007 – Libby Lu pulled the tickets but presumably the little girl gets to keep the makeover, and here’s more about the Mom:

“The girl’s mother had told Club Libby Lu officials that the girl’s father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said. But the mother, Priscilla Ceballos, admitted later Friday that the essay and the military information she provided about her daughter’s father were untrue.

“We did the essay and that’s what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win,” Ceballos said in an interview Friday with Dallas’ KDFW-TV. “But when (Caulfield) asked me if this essay is true, I said `No, this essay is not true.'”

I hope the little girl learned it’s a bad idea to lie but, given her mother’s example, the only thing she may have learned is it’s bad to get caught.

— DRJ

19 Responses to “Doing Anything for Hannah Montana Tickets (Updated)”

  1. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.

    Wait, they’re “considering” taking away the girl’s tickets? What is she going to learn if she gets to keep them? You’d think that would be contributing to the deliquency of a minor or something. Gotta love that mom, yes she reallllyy loves her daughter and wants her support her daughter’s love for Hannah cause Hannah’s not like Britney, she’s a (wait for it) good role model.

    no one you know (1ebbb1)

  2. A friend asked me the other day how come Hannah Montana tickets are selling so swiftly and for such high prices.

    My answer: Parents today are incapable of saying “no.”

    We both agreed that our parents would not have taken us to any such thing had they felt it non-meritorious.

    This is a worst-case scenario, but borne of that basic idea.

    LYT (b67340)

  3. “Gunner, Canister & Coax, Stupid People in the open.”

    “Up!”

    “Identified!”

    “Fire!”

    “On the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”

    “They just keep coming”

    “Driver, get us out of here.”

    “Gunner, fire as you bear”

    they’re like Zombies, but without the need for head shots. %-)

    redc1c4 (39c24a)

  4. I’m gonna take this event too serious. I know we are dealing with but a short fad, but forchristsakes, HM is but a kid, no offense to children….. but!

    I see this again, as a parent problem! She is teaching her daughter it’s fine to lie as long as you get what you desire. (That statement carries a bunch os sutff, far beyond Hanna)!

    As far as I’m concerned, mom and or dad or both, should get abut 6 months, ZERO release for work time, or more.

    Anybody know the name of Crystal Mangum,?

    She is the stripper/whore/prostitute that accused three innocent male persons of horrific crimes against her. Duke Lacross anyone?

    ALL charges, not only dropped, but the three declared innocent by the NC attorney general after extensive investigation!

    AG’s NEVER declare innocence! They always leave something open to become actionable by the civil or criminal courts. NOT THIS TIME!

    One could almost bet that MOM knew of this attempted ruse, dad, if he exists, may have. But for sure mom did. (just a hunch).

    If any, what message should be sent here?

    Hey you are a young person and should be granted every wish? Of hey you are but one of over 300 million, and shit happens. And if you decide to lie about the shit that “could” happen, well then you get a time out?

    Of course one could believe the publicized stats of spousal abuse in the country. Or seek the facts.

    TC (1cf350)

  5. Yep,
    The celebrity culture wins again. When are people going to grow up? I guess never. Another whole generation ready to piss their lives away on the hottest Athelete, Singer, Movie actor…yeeeeesh.

    paul from fl (47918a)

  6. Fuck people, seriously. Pissing away their dignity for the chance to inject their kids’ heads with mediocre bullshit.

    Leviticus (fdbd4f)

  7. I have some words.

    Public humiliation.

    Laughing stock.

    There’s a bad side to the phrase “scapegoat,” which is pretty much all we remember. But the use of a scapegoat wasn’t just to draw attention away from a perpetrator (though it often was), it was to draw attention to a bad behavior.

    I have a doubt, though. Unfortunately, it’s hard to keep attention on someone long enough these days to get past the bad behavior and on to the correction. If you punish and never address the correction, you don’t get better behavior, you just get bitter behavior.

    I think an 80’s style on-air apology on the kid’s show would be nice, as long as it was more “go forth and sin no more” than “fuggedaboutit.”

    Merovign (4744a2)

  8. Who gives a shit this country was built on deceit from the beginning do you really think it’s going to change? Get off your high horses every single one of you people have lied, schemed and probably fucked your way to where you are now so this little girl is just starting early. She’s going to grow up and be just like all of you so don’t try to be holier than thou and point out faults of others because you know you have done some shit also.

    Princess Diana (f98f21)

  9. Momma should get charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, declared an unfit parent, and this kid should be placed for adoption with a family that has more morals than a dockside rat.

    Oh, and Princess? If you think this country is so bad, Delta is ready when you are. Turn in your passport at the gate.

    SDN (a20b62)

  10. Hey…Princess…

    You’re simply wrong.

    Have a really shitty day in the process.

    reff (99666d)

  11. Here’s one of the mother’s classy myspace-style pages:

    The Cheating Mom
    Honestly, we try our damndest(or hopefully we do)not to judge appearances, but my GOD. This isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, to put it mildly(and I’m basing that on visual and audio of this person being interviewed; she sounds as foolish and frankly stupid as she looks

    Trying to win something or get something for free(in all likelihood something a 6 year old doesn’t care enough about to know how to enter a contest or pursue it)by playing cynically on public sympathy for DEAD heroes and their bereaved children?

    No, it doesn’t get worse than this. If anything, the fact the stakes here–Hannah Montana tickets, a trip to NY–are so minimal, rather than, say, a million dollars makes it even more inexcusable and disgusting than it might otherwise be if the temptation to perpetrate fraud was just too much for someone.

    mrs. moto (f9a456)

  12. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I feel sorry for this little girl to be the victim of her mothers attempt to lie.

    Texan (a9ed34)

  13. As the wife of an Active Duty Army serviceman currently stationed in Ramadi, Iraq I am completely shocked. Why in the Hell would you tell such a lie? There are thousands of people that are actually living that nightmare now. They have lost a child, spouse, mother, father, brother, sister, etc. for the cost of our freedom. How dare her… and to win Hannah Montannah tickets at that? I am also a Mother of three children ages 14, 10, and 9 and I wouldn’t dream of teaching them such things. One word….Pathetic! Did she really think she was going to get away with such a lie?

    Melissa (b7fb2e)

  14. Melissa… why would someone tell such a lie? How about this? Some people really don’t care about the truth and are both selfish and shallow. Just ’cause her mom got some seven years ago, doesn’t make her a good role model.

    Christoph (92b8f7)

  15. Hi Melissa,

    Thanks for commenting and thank your husband for his service. I also want to thank you and your kids for the sacrifices you make to help protect us all.

    DRJ (09f144)

  16. Reguardless if the mother lied or not. The truely upsetting fact is that we have American soldiers giving their lives over in Iraq. Our soldiers paying the ultimiate price. And this good for nothing woman is gonna use that to score some freeking CONCERT Tickets!!

    Are you kidding me. That alone makes me extrememly upset. To use the honor that TRUE American soldiers have earned with their sweat and blood, for some tickets……

    She should be deported. Hell send her to Iraq for a few years.

    Donovan (3ea22e)

  17. Hello and god bless, to each and everyone of you.

    I have just sat and read all these comments, I find myself, after all of my own lifes experiences so far, as a single mum aged 27, sitting here actually pitying the fact, that you all, feel so much anger, sorrow, loss, and criticism for another mother and child.

    Please stop! for just one moment and ask yourselves….have you all never done things you regret? not to purposely hurt others but to provide a happiness, for what, in some cases may actually be, the only projection of happiness in your own life, for example your child.

    I as an individual, do not, personally agree with what this lady did, I myself was in Iraq and lost friends there, I was catering for the army, trying to provide for my little boy, who also loves hannah montannah, in fact we’re watching it as I type, I came across this whilst pricing up tickets for her shows.

    So please just stop and think, who are we all to judge another person, especially by our own personal beliefs, I sit here now not to judge but to ask you all…. if we were all so content with our own lives, would it really matter so much to us the business of other people.

    Years ago people worked with each other not against each other, not everyone can afford the luxeries of others, I work my butt off for my sons happiness, I also know what it is to have lost everything else in life, all I have is my sons happy heart, a true, kind and caring heart, this is what I live by and those are my beliefs, I live to love and like my son I love to live.

    Fair enough, we feel what we feel, does that mean we have the right to decide that another deserves to suffer or hurt, I mean, does that not make us hypocrites ourselves or show that we are in fact no better than the person we judge.

    This lady did not do a nice thing in our eyes,but just maybe, like a million others before her, she had genuine reasons to feel so desperate and to be able to provide her child with just one of her dreams, we never know the circumstances another has to live within.

    This does not mean I personally approve or accept this behaviour, though I believe in some way she has felt some type of guilt.

    Maybe her admittance alone should earn her forgiveness within your hearts and I myself have no other feelings towards this lady or her child, they have each other, even if they dont yet see what a blessing that alone truly is.

    Who knows, if more people were really deep thinkers or saw things the way I gratefully do at times, the worlds population may find more peace and sometimes even tranquillity, which in all honesty is something I believe we could all do with at times, as lifes hard enough without finding more reasons to feel resent etc.

    I hope my opinion does not offend anyone and if it does then I truly appologise and hope that you will find some truth in what has been said, although, I guess sometimes people are all to quick to ensure themselves, that they are, in fact, better than others.

    Please try to remember, that no matter who we are or what we have, we came here the same way. We are all born the same way, we will all love, all hurt, all make mistakes, all regret, all find some type of happiness, then at some point repent and we will eventually, all die.

    Lets just hope its with love and peace in mind as loneliness is an awful thing, meant with thought and care, Sarah-Marie..x..

    KNIGHTSTAR222002 (179ceb)

  18. Sarah-Marie,
    Thank you for the thoughtful tone of your comment. It’s obvious you put a lot of thought into it. And am sorry for the troubles you’ve had in your life. And it’s obvious, too, how much you love your son.

    The real issue here, though, since we’re speaking in terms of how much the mom cares for her daughter and wants the best for her, is: what IS the best for the daughter?

    Is it to have Hannah Montana tickets, whatever she finds necessary to do to get them, so her daughter will be happy for a little while? A few weeks or even months, maybe, at the most?

    Or is it, rather, for her daughter to learn how to act with integrity and honesty, respecting a) the value of always telling the truth, b) the rights of others, in the classroom, at work and yes, in Hannah Montana contests, and c) how to look for happiness elsewhere when what you want just now is not given to you…..and therefore her daughter can learn to be fulfilled, virtuous and happy for her whole life?

    The most charitable interpretation of this mom’s actions is that she was extremely shortsighted about her daughter’s happiness and what that meant. Thanks for sharing your thoughts though, and good luck to you.

    no one you know (1f5ddb)

  19. HI CAN U TEXT ME THEN I”LL TEXT U. BY.

    zariah (a4a37b)


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