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So why does Victoria Beckham think it’s OK to trade off her fame to allow her 10 year old son to sign up to be a model for Burberry ?
Surely as a family they don’t need the money !
I can’t help but wonder why his parents thought it would be good for him to model. He was obviously born into celebrity and let’s face it, we are a celebrity obsessed society, but this modelling shoot is clearly a choice by the Beckhams as a family, and it seems an odd one.
In the images for the Spring/Summer 2013 Burberry campaign he fronts, Romeo is decked out in a trench coat, shirt, tie, charcoal trousers and shiny black shoes – how many kids of 10 do you know who wear THAT look ? He is a mini-me of the adult male model next to him and a carbon copy of his Dad’s style of dressing that drives the female nation wild.
Were Romeo a girl, I’m sure that there would be a public outcry about how he was being exploited and sexualised by being costumed as a mini-adult.
So I’d like to know just why that isn’t the same for a boy, or are the rules different for the son of a famous icon?
Most 10 year olds I know would rather be on their wii, playing a video game or eating crisps in front of the telly than posing in a trench coat – and maybe I’m just a cynical old Mum but I’d rather my kids were judged by their personality, kindness and sense of fun than by their external, rather superficial beauty. Of course Romeo is a handsome child but this smacks of “Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs Worthington” as I wonder is this really still all about Victoria’s fragile ego?
Many companies don’t pay child models in cash, just in a few free outfits – which means that the entire episode has been in the service of Romeo’s parent’s ego and a few T-shirts that will be outgrown, I’m sure really soon, and I notice that Vogue won’t carry the ads as he is under 16 and open to exploitation.
Don’t get me wrong I love David Beckham, not only for his looks, but also for how he has raised London’s profile throughout the Olympics, but I just wonder what message this whole episode teaches Romeo, what message it sends out about self esteem being “an inside job” to kids around the world and who’s ego this was really serving !
Read my thoughts this Sunday The Sunday Times
What do you think about it ?
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