Underaged Porn, Or Publicity Stunt? Miley Goes Commando. A bunch of people care for a couple of days.

Miley Cyrus has been hitting the press lately, hard. She is apparently trying to change her image from dimpled Disney darling to total slutbag. Cool! Probably some PR team applying a superstar algorithm that they tested out on Britney to mixed results. Get the kids in young and then rocket them through pubescent rebellion and 'empowered sexuality' with sponsorship logos plastered all along the way. Marketing teams gamble hundreds of thousands of advertising dollars on the hope that their product's association with Miley will seep into the subconcious minds of a new wave of consumer, the preteen girl. But is it a gamble, or is it an investment? It might seem reckless but the bean counters are not reckless and they have calculated every penny spent. So it must be working.*

When Miley climbed out of a convertible the other day she took the classic panty slip move to a whole new level when she seemingly skipped the panty aspect completely. Perez Hilton caught a lot of flack for posting a picture of Miley apparently flashing her 17 year old girl parts to a pack of paparazzi. He went to great lengths to prove that Miley wasn't as bare as it looked and posted a video response to accusations on his big fat bloated website.

Either way they both got a lot of press out of it. Now, if you were Miley and knew you were being constantly photographed by paparazzi would you ever climb out of a convertible in a dress with no panties on while they snapped away? Maybe, if you were trying to change your image and your career depended on press interest. “Isnʼt it funny things like that, that are so negative, have to come out right before my record?” asked Miley. “Itʼs like, no one can just let a positive thing happen.” Oh yeah, and she has a record about to "drop". How strange.

If you were Perez would you knowingly post a picture on your site of an underage girl's undercarriage? Maybe, if you knew you could make a case that she had panties on and avoid a lawsuit. Oh, yeah and your career also depended on press interest. He posted the pic to his Twitter and got a bunch of curious new followers. The fact that they all live in their mom's basement and keep a shovel and a bag of lye in the trunk of their Monte Carlo doesn't change the numbers.

It's my personal suspicion that meaningless moments like this, that become topics of discussion online for a few days and that involve highly marketed pop culture figures while branding is slapped up all over the place are, well... not. that. innocent.

What do you think the real story is here? That Miley's just being a little wild? That Perez was just putting up a picture he didn't look that closely at? Or is it all calculated to create a buzz around a new record owned by Disney and a big fat bloated website owned by Viacom?

*This posting brought to you by Sanrio's (c) Hello Kitty (tm)