One of Europe's most popular retail brands created a model competition for babies. The NEXT baby competition started last October 2010 and was created in search for the 'superbabymodel'. The NEXT baby competition was opened for infants up to 36 months of age and created quite a lot of buzz, both positive and negative nationwide.
The NEXT retail has over 500 stores all over U.K., Ireland and about 50 franchise branches in Europe, Asia, and Middle East. A sub-department of the company, the NEXT Baby Boutique partnered up with Prima Baby magazine and the leading junior model agency, Urban Angels, to come up with the Next baby competition where the winning baby can win 500 pounds worth of NEXT vouchers, a 1 year modeling contract with Urban Angels and will also participate for a photo shoot for the Prima Baby and the NEXT magazine.
The Next baby competition's goal was clear and simple: to find a baby supermodel. However, things did not exactly go the way the organizers planned and they were not exactly prepared for how it really turned out. What probably could've played a big role in its not-so-nice turnout was that it was a large-scale baby competition set in Facebook. There was a sudden surge of responses and entries from very eager parents and the organizers weren't able to anticipate and prepare for such a huge number of participants within a very small amount of time.
Parents started to act very aggressively online just to get votes in favor of their little bundle of joy. Some parents even started creating YouTube videos featuring their babies in order to garner more attention. Parents started going against each other and it even reached a point wherein they were actually sending and receiving hate mails from their fellow participants.
The Next baby competition organizers did not just have to handle a logistical nightmare as they were also faced with accusations of discrimination against a baby who they rejected for having a huge birthmark on the face.
What Next thought as a very clear-cut and simple baby competition turned out to be a logistical nightmare. The organizers behind the Next baby competition were not able to fully strategize and create plan B and perhaps a plan C if in case things would go out-of-hand and it was very unfortunate for them that things did indeed go way out-of-hand.
Both the organizers and parents are to blame for what mess the Next baby competition turned out to be. This competition proved that there are really superficial parents who would give anything for their babies to have their 15 minutes of fame.
The Next baby competition was merely an avenue to showcase babies' natural charms and innocence but somehow, it shone the light on how these beauty competitions become an arena for superficial aspirations.
There's nothing wrong with the concept of the Next baby competition, it was just a case of mismanagement and the itch for fame.
The NEXT retail has over 500 stores all over U.K., Ireland and about 50 franchise branches in Europe, Asia, and Middle East. A sub-department of the company, the NEXT Baby Boutique partnered up with Prima Baby magazine and the leading junior model agency, Urban Angels, to come up with the Next baby competition where the winning baby can win 500 pounds worth of NEXT vouchers, a 1 year modeling contract with Urban Angels and will also participate for a photo shoot for the Prima Baby and the NEXT magazine.
The Next baby competition's goal was clear and simple: to find a baby supermodel. However, things did not exactly go the way the organizers planned and they were not exactly prepared for how it really turned out. What probably could've played a big role in its not-so-nice turnout was that it was a large-scale baby competition set in Facebook. There was a sudden surge of responses and entries from very eager parents and the organizers weren't able to anticipate and prepare for such a huge number of participants within a very small amount of time.
Parents started to act very aggressively online just to get votes in favor of their little bundle of joy. Some parents even started creating YouTube videos featuring their babies in order to garner more attention. Parents started going against each other and it even reached a point wherein they were actually sending and receiving hate mails from their fellow participants.
The Next baby competition organizers did not just have to handle a logistical nightmare as they were also faced with accusations of discrimination against a baby who they rejected for having a huge birthmark on the face.
What Next thought as a very clear-cut and simple baby competition turned out to be a logistical nightmare. The organizers behind the Next baby competition were not able to fully strategize and create plan B and perhaps a plan C if in case things would go out-of-hand and it was very unfortunate for them that things did indeed go way out-of-hand.
Both the organizers and parents are to blame for what mess the Next baby competition turned out to be. This competition proved that there are really superficial parents who would give anything for their babies to have their 15 minutes of fame.
The Next baby competition was merely an avenue to showcase babies' natural charms and innocence but somehow, it shone the light on how these beauty competitions become an arena for superficial aspirations.
There's nothing wrong with the concept of the Next baby competition, it was just a case of mismanagement and the itch for fame.
About the Author:
You can find lots of baby competitions on the internet. You'll be able to enter the next baby competition and win money or perhaps a scholarship for your child.