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Disney’s Latest Trend

Disney’s roster of young Hollywood stars is becoming less and less innocent with every passing year. Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus and now Cheetah girl Adrienne Bailon have given a bad name to the company's young starlets. The new wave of rising superstars are becoming subject of gossip not because of their work but rather due to the nude photographs of the young women that are finding their ways onto the Internet.

The Walt Disney Company has long since made a name for itself in creating rising stars. Beginning with the Mickey Mouse Club, musicians and actors alike used the show as a platform to their careers. Some of the most successful cast members from the 1990s include Christina Aguilera, JC Chasez, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. These stars started their careers on Disney and shortly thereafter their fame took off to new and exciting heights.

In the past several years, Disney has produced hit television movies and shows like The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, Camp Rock, Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place. Some of the most notable stars from those productions include Raven Symoné, Adrienne Bailon, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashely Tisdale, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. The sudden popularity of these productions has been astounding, giving a revamped reputable name to the Walt Disney Company.

However, the reputation only went so far. In 2007, nude photos of Vanessa Hudgens leaked onto the Internet. According to the actress, the pictures were of a “personal matter” and were never meant to be made public. A statement made by Hudgens said: “I want to apologize to my fans, whose support and trust means the world to me. I am embarrassed over this situation and regret having ever taken these photos.”

Many people were skeptical on whether Disney would continue to cast Hudgens as Gabriella Montez in the next production of High School Musical. However, the rumors proved to be false when Disney confirmed that Vanessa was to continue playing Gabriella’s role in HSM. Disney later said, “We hope she's learned a valuable lesson.” Hudgens handled the post-scandal arrangements courageously and acted highly mature in dealing with the matter. However, the damage was done and soon a trend began to take shape.

Not long after Hudgen’s nude photographs, then 15-year old Miley Cyrus came out with her own indecent photographs. Suggestive pictures of Cyrus and a female friend sharing a stick of licorice were soon considered “racy,” but in the eyes of Cyrus she claimed they were “nothing bad.” Shortly after, more suggestive photos of Cyrus hit the Internet after a hacker took the images from Cyrus’ emails. After a few months of sporadic news of more racy photos, people began to see this as nothing but a trend in Disney stars.

Just recently, Adrienne Bailon had her share of the latest Disney trend. In November of 2008, naked photos of the young Cheetah Girl hit the net. In a statement released by her representative, the photos were claimed to have been “stolen from her laptop over a week ago at an airport in NY and sent to several media outlets. These photos were taken in private. Adrienne will be pursuing legal action against the person or person's sending these private photos out.” The statement also went on to say that “Adrienne is deeply sorry for any pain this may have caused to her fans.” As of publication time, there are no reports about who, specifically, Bailon is suing.

The lives of the rich and famous come along with the responsibly of fame. The way these stars present themselves in the public eye not only affects their credibility but their fans as well. What these young stars should realize is that they have a certain fan base. Young teenagers look up to them and if they want to keep their idol status, then they should learn from not only their personal mistakes, but from the mistakes made by their “star-mates.”

It can be understood that these stars had no control in how their pictures found their way onto the Internet. However, it never hurts to be careful. This recent trend of nude photos is beginning to get out of control and something needs to be done in order to tame the frenzy they are creating.

A piece of advice for these young starlets: don’t take nude or racy pictures of yourself. This will prevent any incidents in the future. Hackers will find a way to get a hold of racy pictures of stars and if it happened once, it is bound to happen again.

As for the latest Disney star, Selena Gomez, many people are hoping she might be one last hope for “teenage innocence.” For the sake of Disney’s reputation and that of our teenage generation, let’s hope she doesn’t follow in the examples of her predecessors.