I suspect that in most of these cases, there is/was a lack of someone saying NO! and civilizing the youngster. The British press have a term for their collective futures: “Death by misadventure”
Why would anybody think that Lohan and Bieber are PR stunts? Yeah, the saying is “all publicity is good publicity,” but it’s not universally true. Why would they constantly put out horrible things about themselves and never any good ones? The notion’s insane.
Miley Cyrus is not remotely in the same league. Her only controversy is from manufactured product, not real-life. And except for the idiotically puritanical outrage, nothing she’s done is bad in the same way. And thelurkinghorror, the finger and the bears were in the videos she and and Robin Thicke were performing to. There would be something odd only if they were missing.
Her intended audience got it all, down to the last detail. That’s what PR is. See the difference?
Although some of the behavior is legitimately outside the norm, people make way too much of it.
Imagine if there had been reporters and cameras following each of us around as teenagers. More of us would have truly embarrassing and idiotic behavior documented for everyone to see than not. I know I did some truly stupid, obnoxious, boneheaded, hurtful, and dangerous things when I was a teenager and even in my 20s (not necessarily in that order or all at once 
).
I think you need to revisit the definition of mild.
Bieber’s handlers are professionals-they know that he/his brand have about 4-5 year’s commercial viability. Hence the “outrageous” conduct-they need to keep the brand “fresh”.
Sooner or later, a younger, prettier version of Bieber will emerge-so the handlers are maxing out his earning potential now.
The antics in Brazil were all (carefully) calculated to do just that.
No, he got it right. It was a parody of suggestion and not suggestive in the least.
I think you need to look up VMA performances from Madonna and Britney Spears. What Miley did was old hat 20 years ago. But a new crop of blue hairs has to be outraged about something.
Yeah, while I don’t think much of Miley Cyrus as a performer I’ve been surprised by the people who claim they were shocked, shocked, to see a young woman in a somewhat revealing costume dancing in a suggestive manner on MTV.
After hearing people completely lose their minds over the performance for about two weeks I finally watched the video. My reaction was, “That’s it? Is there more to the video that was cut out? This is what people are absolutely melting down about?” I really can’t believe it got the reaction that it did.
You seemed to be confused between the notions of ‘suggestive’ and ‘shocking’. I never said it was shocking; in fact, it was sort of standard and boring. But rubbing your own crotch with a foam finger, rubbing a man’s crotch with a foam finger, and wiggling your butt against that man’s crotch, are not just ‘mildly’ suggestive of sex. They’re pretty much directly and strongly suggestive of sex.
Wow. You know a lot about Justin Bieber.
Do you remember Clear Pepsi?
Wait, Justin Bieber – DRIVING??? He’s only about eleven, isn’t he?
'Cos he was seven when he did that remake of “We Are the World,” right? He looked and sounded seven.
For that to be true - that all the bad behaviour is stage-managed - you’d have to believe that all Bieber’s natural behaviour is impeccable. This rich, spoilt teenager would never drink alcohol, swear, or shove an obnoxious paparazzo of his own accord.
FMI - Frontal Lobe Immaturity.
And? As I said, this is nothing that hasn’t happened before on that show. Miley’s foam figure is only “suggestive” because we already know what it’s suggesting. The same with Britney Spears’ “Snake” performance. The only reason Miley caught heat is because she was a adorable little moppet for five years on a kid’s TV show. Britney and Madonna started out “shocking,” so the negative reaction wasn’t as huge.
I was questioning your use of the word ‘mildly’ because it seemed like a flimsy rhetorical device. I understood the rest of the argument.
Britney was an adorable little moppet for two years on a kid’s TV show, by the way.
Britney was an anonymous moppet on a little-seen kid’s TV show. Miley was HANNAH MONTANA. Bit of a difference.
How weird that Spears, along with Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling all managed to launch careers from such obscure anonymity. Crazy odds!
Crystal Pepsi? Yes, I do. Never tried it, though.
Yes, many teenage stars were first child actors toiling away in relative obscurity. Shocking, I know.