People Magazine Is Joining Entertainment Tonight in Banning Paparazzi Photos of Celeb Kids

People magazine and celebrity gossip site Just Jared have joined Entertainment Tonight in swearing off one of the most popular invasions of stars’ privacy: paparazzi photos of famous kids. The bans are, in part, a response to a campaign started last month by actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard. The couple, tired of their then-10-month-old daughter being photographed by paparazzi, took to Twitter (and, later, Shepard’s blog) to ask consumers to boycott magazines that ran unauthorized pictures of celebrity kids and urged media outlets to stop publishing them in the first place. “We pray that one of the classier weeklies, like People, will enact a no-kids policy, and that they will be rewarded by the consumer for doing so,” Shepard wrote. “And we hope that leads to others following suit.” News show Entertainment Tonight was the first to heed that call last Thursday, announcing that they would refrain from airing photos or videos of celebrity kids taken without their parents’ consent. “By joining forces, ET and the couple hope that additional press outlets will follow their lead,” ET wrote, adding, “ET's sister show, The Insider independently, adapted the ‘no kids’ policy after meeting with Bell.” People and Just Jared have both followed suit. The Time Inc. celebrity weekly broke the news in a letter from recently appointed editorial director Jess Cagle. “The editors at People have always been careful when dealing with photos of kids, but in the past few months our sensitivity has been significantly heightened, and our editorial practices have changed accordingly,” he wrote. “When I took over as Editorial Director of People in January, I told our staff that People would not publish photos of celebs' kids taken against their parents' wishes, in print or online." The magazine will still run “sanctioned photos” of celebrity kids, however, which includes “exclusive baby pictures taken with the cooperation of celebrity parents, and photos of stars posing with their kids at events (like a red carpet) where they're expecting and willing to be photographed.” Exceptions may also be made depending on “the newsworthiness of photos,” Cagle said. Just Jared and its tween-focused sister site Just Jared Jr, will be enforcing a “#NoKidsPolicy” similar to People’s. “We won’t be posting photos of children of public figures without consent … Exceptions to the rule include consensual photos like public figures with kids on the red carpet, at sports games and concert venues, and pictures shared directly via social media,” wrote founder and editor in chief Jared Eng. In his letter, Cagle said People would still run "sanctioned photos" and in "rare exceptions," unsanctioned ones. On People.com, which has a dedicated Moms & Babies vertical, there are still plenty of paparazzi photos of famous offspring to be found, many of which been posted since Cagle took over as editor. Adweek has asked People if it planned to take any of those photos down; we're awaiting a response. Just Jared also doesn’t seem to have removed any of its unauthorized kid photos and was continuing to post them as recently as Sunday.

Performance Marketing

People Magazine Is Joining Entertainment Tonight in Banning Paparazzi Photos of Celeb Kids

Campaign led by actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard

Emma Bazilian

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