Free Magazine: Maxim Magazine, Britney Spears, Kids on Diets

Top personal branding consultant Peter Montoya said: "She has been so well marketed that the question of her talent is really a non-issue. Like Madonna 20 years ago, Britney Spears is having a major impact on American culture, influencing the way teen-age girls dress, act and think — especially with regards to sex."

According to Britney, she's "concerned with the kids out there"; but as to how she dresses, her sexually-charged music videos and her over-sexualized image in general, she "[doesn't] even want to think about that." Therein lies the dilemma.

There is a fundamental issue that is steadily surfacing. Media has brainwashed society to value outward appearances over other qualities such as intelligence and personality. In fact, the individual's intelligence, character, moral worth--or lack thereof--plays not the slightest role in whether they should be (or are) made into a noteworthy icon. The media only considers the amount of skin one is willing to bare; and the more the better. To them, a person has no value unless she can be made to appear visually provocative.

"As a child, I don't remember seeing scantly clad women on the covers of magazines as excessively as today. And I feel it's negative for young boys to grow up thinking that that's the standard of beauty. The long-term repercussions are not good at all." - Nelly Furtado in Rolling Stone magazine