The invasion of the celebs' kids

Last week Brooklyn Beckham made a lot of people angry. The fact is this: Victoria and David Beckham's first-born was hired to shoot the new Burberry Brit fragrance campaign, whose set has been largely promoted on the brand's and Brooklyn's social networks. Nothing exciting, except that the young photographer is only 16-year old and this was his first work experience. That's why this has made senior photographers very furious, starting the Brooklyngate. 

The issue is more delicate than it seems. It's not the same intergenerational conflict, because the Brooklyn-Burberry case also involves the new way we conceive notoriety and working in the time of social networks. 

Photographers like Chris Floyd and Jon Gorrigan, specialists in the sector with years of experience, inveighed against Burberry's decision to put an advertising campaign into the hands of such a young boy. 

The accusation the two photographers made against the brand is it devalued fashion photography. In their favour there are hard evidences like the fact that Brooklyn has no experience in the field and he found the bulk of the work done thanks to professional models and a great team who supported him in every step. By doing so, the work of photographers appears as a child's game, literally. 

In defence of Beckham, Christopher Bailey, Burberry's creative director and CEO, has intervened saying the kid has a good photographic eye and his style is in line with the mood that the Brit fragrance wants to propose. 

Every age has had to face an intergenerational conflict between older and younger people, newcomers who threaten to ruin the carriers built in years and years of work. So, nothing new on this issue, just think of Tavi Gevinson's case a couple of years ago.

The news is that these new talents are not just young (very young in some cases), but, above all, they're also very famous. It emerges that what allows this new celeb generation to get very important jobs is their family pedigree. And if you think that most of them are under 18, well, we have to admit this phenomenon is extraordinary.

Brooklyn Beckham is the proof: at 16 years old with no previous qualifications he has just shot an advertising campaign for a very prestigious brand, and only because, we must admit it, his surname is Beckham. 

He's not the only one. The teenager élite is expanding increasingly: brothers Willow and Jaden Smith (who appears in Louis Vuitton SS16 womenswer campaign) have started, then Lily-Rose Depp, Iris Law and Dylan Lee - Saint Laurent's latest testimonial - have come. The group enlarges if we include Kendall and Kylie Jenner, who are just a little bit older (19 and 18-year old). 

Why does the show business rely on them? It's clear: they are young, fresh, very cool and, above all, they have a lot of fans, which means, in term of business, top visibility and publicity. 

For example, Brooklyn Beckham's Instagram account counts 6 million followers against Chris Floyd's 5 thousands. So it's understandable the decision of a brand like Burberry to include into its image strategy a public figure with such media visibility. In fact, the shoot has been largely followed on social networks launching a meta-advertising, a sort of “publicity into a publicity”. 

If you think a similar decision is unfair I would like to remind you that the purpose of advertising is to sell something, not necessarily to make art. So, the strategy which reaches the goal will be the best, even if it has to deal with artistic or ethical compromises. And I think Brooklyn Beckham has reached this goal.

I can understand how frustrating it can be for a professional photographer to see his own work surpassed by a little boy who decided to work in fashion just the day before, but sadly these are the new rules that media celebrity has imposed in the past years. Just look at the Kardashian and Hilton dynasties. 

Can we go back to a time without famous teenagers? No, we can't. Should we give up? Maybe, but, above all, we should learn to coexist with them, because they will always be there and media visibility will always be an important element for the creative and working area. “So it goes” Vonnegut said.

Senior professionals can only follow the new trend, start collaborating with the newcommers or innovate themselves. What is important, for me, is they continue to create quality works and go on with their own carriers, whatever the brand they work for is. Show business, and in particular fashion, is so big that everybody could work in it, without intergenerational conflicts that we could hardly win. 

And if people like Depp, Beckham and Law scary you, well, I want to remind you that Suri Cruise, North West and Aila Wang will be among us very soon. Get ready to fight.