Jon and Kate Under Attack again.......

Jon & Kate Plus 8 Under Attack: Are They Exploiting Their Kids?
Monday, 03/ 2/2009 at 8:30 AM Comments (101) I was reading Phillymag.com on Saturday while JD was napping. (Did I ever tell you I interned at Philadelphia Magazine when I was in college? I did. Good times!) I was completely entranced by a Jon & Kate Plus 8 expose--completely. People are pissed! Paaaaaaaaaaaa-issed! Are you?

Writer Jessica Remo reminds us about Kate's "sob story" of how she asked the community for help--and help her family got. Before the Gosselins brought home their six "Hershey Kisses" volunteers flooded their house with diapers and Sam's Club gift cards. Speaking of said house, NBC's remodeling reality show Home Delivery made it over.

Since we're talking about money and handouts, I felt a little uneasy reading that hundreds of people paid 10 bucks a pop to snap a "fuzzy picture" of the family at the First Assembly of God church in upstate New York during a family appearance. Remo also reported that Barnes & Noble set up an "impromptu" bookstore in the kiosk selling Kate's best-selling book, Multiple Blessings: Surviving to Thriving With Twins and Sextuplets.

As a result of the hit show with its nearly three million viewers, the Gosselins are provided with free, world-class trips. Kate remarks: "They get the publicity of the trip; we get the trip." I think that answer is too easy. I work for the magazine factory. You know all those pretty clothes you see in Glamour and Vogue and even First? Well, they are on loan. There is a fashion assistant in the closet calling in clothes and RETURNING them 24/7 (I know because I did this at First, among other things). And in a crunch, the assistant is buying the must-have skirt, tucking and taping the tag, shooting it--then returning it. (OK, sometimes a designer lets an editor keep something.) For Kate to call the freebies "free press" is BS. I'm sorry. Listen, every now and then a publicist sends me something for JD. I got some Ciao Bella. JD got some crayons. The swag is unexpected (but, OK, expected. I pen a blog for Glamour). Point is, the things that show up on my doorstep here and there (sparsely) are not a lifestyle. Storked! does not keep us going. It's one of my many freelance jobs. No one remodeled our apt. Gymboree does not supply JD with an endless wardrobe. I'm not getting free (aw, poor stressed-out mom) spa treatments. Jon got free hair implants. You know, it was press for the doctor. Just own it, Kate, that's all I ask. Tell people you couldn't comfortably afford 8 kids and now you can. Tell people that you and Jon do not hold jobs--that the show is your job, therefore the show is also your kids job. If the show was canceled, you'd be unemployed like a lot of Americans right now. Listen up, when I get stuff from people I literally blog, "THE PR DIRECTOR AT CIAO BELLA READS STORKED! SHE SENT ME SOME ICE CREAM. WHAT A NICE SURPRISE." I don't position the pint on the table and give JD a spoon. Storked! isn't an advertising blog. Sometimes I mention products by brand because if I can entertain my toddler with a ball popper while I fold laundry, you can too! (And I strive to provide service, along with personal anecdotes.) No one gave me a free ball popper. I bought it at Target! So when people on this blog say I am exploiting my kid I have to laugh. Out loud. If you scroll through my blogs, you'll find more fodder about me and what's going on in the media than you will about my son. And we talked about this before, so click here if you're a new reader.

Remo writes: Jon and Kate have booked more and more speaking engagements at churches, where, according to several attendees and organizers, the collection basket sometimes gets passed so audience members can make a "love offering" to the family. Sometimes, the duo sells autographed photos for $20 a pop (cash only). So, I guess they don't have to report that "cash only" to the IRS before April 15. Sorry. That was admittedly snarky. I'm doing my taxes this week. Stressed. I literally have shoeboxes of receipts.

Prior to the birth of the sextuplets the Gosselins launched, Sixgosselins.com. They posted a prayer list asking for a "15-passenger van and a house we fit into and can afford." Aside from the prayer list was a (advertising) praise list. It noted the companies that supplied things to the family. What's more, Remo reports: When the babies were six months old, family members, friends and neighbors got a letter containing the Gosselin's account number with the electric company, in case anyone felt moved to pay the couple's bill. (A TLC spokeswoman says the letter came from friends looking to help the Gosselins.) And the biggest red flag for me in the article: In California, Jon & Kate Plus 8 as it exists today would be highly illegal, explains Petersen (a former child actor from The Donna Reed Show who advocates for child stars, because of the state's extensive protections for all kids on camera, scripted or reality. But Pennsylvania doesn't offer similar protections.

Reading the article I couldn't help but think of Nadya Suleman. Her spokesperson appeared on Larry King Live the night before, so those tiny, precious babies with tubes and wires prodding at them were fresh in my mind. It's funny how people are condemning her, yet the Gosselins are, well, celebrities. (Except celebs don't charge their fans for a snapshot. I once had someone take a pic of Mischa Barton and me. She didn't ask me for 20 bucks. She just smiled.) OK, Nadya had six other kids. Kate and Jon had two. What's the magic number that says you're allowed to make more? I'm over arguing about Nadya's reproductive rights. If women can have abortions, then Nadya had a right to use her embryos. Maybe the doctor should have been more responsible. He implanted Nadya. She didn't knock herself up. And JUST LIKE the Gosselins, Nadya launched a website that accepts donations. Jon and Kate couldn't afford their babies either and the only reason they can is because companies provide them with toys, clothes, juice, diapers and of course TLC provides a paycheck. Lauren Conrad from MTV's The Hills makes a reported $75,000 an ep. I can only imagine what those cute kids pull in for their parents.

How do you feel about Jon & Kate Plus 8? Are you a fan of the show? Do you think it's fair to praise two parents for their efforts and shower them with gifts, yet mock a single mother who is merely being offered a fraction of what the Gosselins call press? What about the Gosselin kids? The article revealed that one of the kids' bedrooms had a sign taped on it. It read: "Stay Owt With Cameras." Discuss.

Click here to read a Q & A with writer Jessica Remo about her "Behind the Scenes" experience writing about the sensational family. She was called an "unethical journalist" by a PR person at TLC. Scandalous!

Full Disclosure: I didn't spell out wrong.