This week, Jersey Shore’s Snooki went on The Jay Leno Show and said she wanted to “change the world” by installing tanning beds “in everybody’s homes.” That Snooki, always trying to make the world a better place in her own special way. We knew her heart was as big as her, uh, smile. Yes, her smile. However, some officials at the Parents Television Council who are taking the show way too seriously are pulling their hair out over Snooki’s statements, since studies show indoor tanning is as bad for you as smoking cigarettes.
Marybeth Hicks, of the Council, berated the sun-kissed self-professed “guidette,” saying, “It’s disconcerting that [she] could have any sort of influence or be a role model … or advocate something like tanning beds that could cause cancer.”
This is where the Parents Television Council has it all wrong: Just because these people are on TV doesn’t mean anyone looks up to them. They’re popular because the combination of their narcissism and tackiness is one of the most fascinating phenomena of this millennium so far.
“The notion that these people are celebrities at all gives them credibility they should not have,” said Hicks, adding that the show is “glorifying” behavior that is “silly” and “dangerous.”
“This [show, ‘Jersey Shore,’] is a great example of sheer exploitation for the purpose of chasing ratings,” says Hicks, adding that cast members are “so caricatured, they’re almost like cartoons.”
And isn’t it great? But what’s annoying about watchdog groups like this is that they attack Snooki publicly for enjoying the booth, but haven’t planted any such stories about, oh, the house’s standards for classifying women as either “whores,” “regular girls,” or “human beings.”
’Jersey Shore’s’ Nicole (Snooki) Polizzi slammed for promoting indoor tanning ‘to change the world’ [NYDN]
