So, I came across this question on ask.mefi:
How do you write a fan letter pretending to be Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana?
The answers inside intrigued me. Most responses so far think it wouldn't be ethical to impersonate Miley/Hannah. What if she shares the autograph with friends and they point out it's fake? Surely that negative outcome would outweigh and erase any joy it provided in the first place. But would it still be wrong if she never found out it was fake? How do you know any response from Miley would be real and done by an assistant?
But the comparison to Santa Claus was interesting. I don't think anyone would say writing a letter posing as Santa would be unethical (I got one when I was little! Thanks mom!). Why is it different for another fictional character? Which brings up another question.. would it be any less of an ethical problem to pose as Hannah but not Miley? What if you take the Down Syndrome out of the equation? Hmm.. what would you do?
Posted by alangage at November 21, 2008 12:04 PM
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Ethics, schmethics. Check out the Mega Man movie trailer:
http://ningin.com/mediastream/item:show/2008/11/21/megaman-movie-official-trailer/
It looks like it's going to possibly get nominated for some kind of foreign Oscar.
Posted by: Cody at November 21, 2008 11:05 PM
1) Transcribe the letter, to the best of your ability, into something legible. Then send it off. Even if it's an assistant that writes back, or sends a mass-produced reply, at least it's from them, not you.
2) Isn't it "Down's Syndrome"? Named after Dr. John Down?
3) Your mom is Santa Claus? Then who is Mrs Claus?
Posted by: Woodsie at November 21, 2008 11:17 PM
Man, Cody, that's a good trailer. I like how they say it's nonprofit so they don't get sued. They probably will anyway.
What were we talking about?
Posted by: Andy at November 22, 2008 07:34 AM
Don't condescendingly scold me for putting that link in this post about Billy Ray's kid! I would have put this in the Star Trek post, but that's old news and I don't want to go off topic around Trekkies. They will hunt you down and murder you for such an offense. Or, at the very least, hunt you down and try and befriend you in an attempt to turn you on to the Star Trek galaxy. I don't care for either outcome.
And, just so that I am on point with this comment, I didn't know Miley had Down's. It really makes a lot of sense, though. It really puts her into proper perspective.
Posted by: Cody at November 22, 2008 10:34 AM
I just wanted to point out that you now have Google Ads having to do with H*nn*h M*nt*n* and M*l** C*r*s on your site....
Posted by: Rachel at December 2, 2008 09:46 AM
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