Hannah Montana essay winner a fake

@dreamy1 (3811)
United States
December 29, 2007 3:01pm CST
I don't watch the show but I'm aware of who she is. I just saw this and was disgusted. What an awful thing to do. Shame on the mother for teaching her daughter to lie and to lie about something as horrible as this is just awful. Someone I love dearly is in Iraq now to use someone's "death" to win a stupid essay contest is horrible. Here's the article. GARLAND, Texas - An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq." While gripping, it wasn't true — and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie. The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls. The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9. The mother had told company officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said. "We did the essay and that's what we did to win," Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. "We did whatever we could do to win." She had identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception. "We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl's holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated," said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu. Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl's tickets.
1 response
• United States
31 Dec 07
That sucks. I feel for the little girl because she really didn't know any better. At that age kids do what their parents tell them (for the most part). I know if I told my 6yo to lie he would do it because he trusts me to not lead him astray. But she should not get the tickets. They should go to some other lucky child. The whole thing can be considered fraud. The mom is lucky she doesn't go to jail. Hopefully the little girl learns a very valuable lesson about lying to get what you want, deception and disappointment. the mother should lean something, too--that you don't teach your kids to do whatever it takes to get what they want. There are lines that shouldn't be crossed. Lying about a parent dying is definitely one of them.