GROWING UP INSTAGRAMMED
Exploitative or just proud? Parents are snapping away at their children’s youth
It was a gorgeous autumn day in Brooklyn, and Keira Cannon was holding one of the weekend photo shoots she does with her favourite subject: her son, Princeton. Princeton wore leather pants, blackand-white checked trainers and a black sweatshirt with an open-mouthed vampire graphic. But that wasn’t quite enough flair for his mother. So Cannon whipped out a purple faux-fur jacket — except that Princeton was, in teenager-speak, “done.”
But Princeton is not a teenager. He is five years old. A happy-seeming little boy, he played with his scooter, balanced on the curb and twirled in endless circles but only had so much tolerance for the professional photographer whom Cannon, 38 and a pastry chef, had hired to populate his Instagram feed, Prince and the Baker, which has more than 5,600 followers.
When the photographer attempted to coax him to pose for one more shot with the Brooklyn Bridge behind him, he gave her a polite, “No thanks.” It didn’t help that children were riding past him on scooters of their own, or bicycles.
Once the half-hour shoot was over, Cannon posted multiple photos of Princeton in the outfit on the Instagram feed, tagging the Canadian online shop, the Mini Life, that had provided it, and the brands included. In return, she would get a shopping discount and keep the clothing, worth about $350 (12,500 baht).
During busy seasons, she receives such packages weekly. Depending on the brand, Cannon will sometimes earn a payment of $50 to $100 per post, she said, adding that L’Officiel Enfant, a showroom in midtown Manhattan, once paid her $250 for a lookbook shoot.
Typically, Princeton is happy to be in the spotlight.
“He kind of loves it,” Cannon said. “A lot of followers will actually recognise him in the street. And he’ll say, ‘How do people know me?’ or ‘People think that I’m adorable?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re totally adorable.’ He’s a sweet little guy, and it opens him up in ways because people want to talk to him about what he’s wearing and how he’s doing.”
The entertainment industry has long been populated with (some may say built by) stage mothers like Rose Hovick, Jaid Barrymore, Teri Shields, Dina Lohan and reigning “momager” Kris Jenner. But Instagram, which Pew Research says is the fastest growing major social network among adults in the United States, has become an express track for parents interested in sharing and sometimes capitalising on the visual storyline of their children’s lives.
Other than a few recommendations about proper tagging, endorsement deals resulting from such activity largely lie outside the protective scope of the Federal Trade Commission, said Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University.
“While the modelling industry isn’t perfect by any means, it is at least, at the level of children, regulated to some extent,” she said, referring to limitations on work hours and the creation of a trust fund for wages.
Regardless of how their time and money are being handled, the amateur child models of Instagram are already more famous on the internet than most of your co-workers. There’s four-year-old London Scout, with 105,000 followers; two-year-old Millie-Belle Diamond, with 143,000; four-year-old Michelle (154,000); Gavin (200,000); and the Mini Style Hacker (260,000). Then there’s the prince of Instagram: Alonso Mateo, with more than 600,000 followers. He recently attended the Dior show at Paris Fashion Week.
Princeton’s dad, Sai Roberts, 40, a graphic designer, has more modest aspirations.
“His mum and I have reviewed some of the other Instagram kids who have a lot of followers, and so there are some concerns in the sense that if it was to get out of hand, but so far it’s really been a positive experience,” he said. “I’m very proud that he’s getting exposure, and I hope he’s able to use that for his own creative flair and voice as he grows older.”
Sometimes adults are drawn to the feed: people who post comments on their own Instagram pages like “Can I be her?” or “She’s become my style inspo” or “I love the hair!!!!”
And marketers are also taking an interest. Athena Rotolo, who owns the Mini Life website, said she was pleased with the transactions she has struck with Cannon.
“She requests certain items that fit in for the style of the shoot, and then I send them off to her,” Rotolo said. “So instead of me having to hire someone and pay all those fees, it’s a mutual relationship.”
Parents have also negotiated deals with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and other higher-profile companies.
On the higher end, there’s London Scout (her first and middle names) walking down a street in a couture party dress for the Instagram account Scout Fashion. Or London Scout at New York Fashion Week in a pink and navy faux fur coat, waving to a crowd of photographers.
“It was like she had her own little paparazzi,” said her mother, Sai De Silva, who runs the feed. London Scout is living #scoutstyle and schooling followers on how to #gettheLondonlook. And because London’s mother, 34 and a self-described social-media strategist, is as photogenic as her daughter, there are also the hashtags# mommy daughter moments and #ScoutMomstyle.
De Silva, who lives in New York, has created a weekly calendar to manage the account.
“It’s the same thing you would do with a magazine,” she said.
One day she takes the photos of London, and on another she hires a professional photographer. Two to three wardrobe changes are scheduled for each outing: London going to the park or the supermarket, dressed to the nines.
“That way, I have content for the week,” De Silva said. “Or if she’s in the mood to shoot a photo on my iPhone, then I’ll take a capture. But we don’t make it an issue where it’s 24-7 because it would be obnoxious and ridiculous for a four-yearold. If my daughter isn’t happy, then there are no photos.”
Ginger Clark, a psychologist and professor of clinical education at the University of southern California, compared parent-run Instagram feeds to the pageant world.
“Not every kid is going to have this experience, but it runs the risk of giving the child the sense that they are a commodity in your eyes,” she said.
“You have to be extra careful to make sure the messages you’re giving your child are ‘This is for fun, this is dress-up.’ However when you’re hiring your own photographer, then it becomes much more commercialised.”
Patricia Greenfield is a psychology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, director of the campus’s Children’s Digital Media Center and a co-author of an oft-cited study that found that fame was the No.1 goal for children aged 10-12.
“It really boils down to someone’s values and whether or not you want your child to grow up thinking of himself or herself in terms of how famous he or she is, versus having more pro-social values,” Greenfield said of cultivating Instagram stars.
Regardless of the potential psychological effects, the mothers interviewed for this article said they feared online predators.
“You never know who’s behind a profile,” said Mia St. Clair, 29, a professional photographer in Spokane, Washington. Her son Grey, three, is at the epicentre of Grey’s Little Closet. They have more than 28,000 followers.
“Now that it’s so large and it’s growing, we just felt like we should just kind of shift it and not be so focused on Grey,” St. Clair said. “We don’t love the idea of him growing up and one day feeling like he has this huge following or fan base.”
Cannon, the pastry chef from Brooklyn, recently dealt with an incident in which a Facebook user posted photos of Princeton and other children without permission. A group of mothers, including Cannon, demanded that they be taken down. But such fears have not stopped her from proceeding full steam ahead with Prince and the Baker.
“I’m not trying to thrust him in it right away, and I’m going at his pace,” Cannon said. “But, yes, ultimately, we’re on that track of maybe television work or commercials. I think Princeton and I are on the cusp of blowing up.”
I’m very proud that he’s getting exposure, and I hope he’s able to use that