A Letter to Nick Jonas

First, be advised that some of you may not like this posting. If you don't, feel free to read something else. I don't expect Nick Jonas or his Disney-paid publicist to notice it either, but I need to get this off my chest.

I openly admit it: I think Nick Jonas (and his brothers) is creepy, and I also side with comedienne Kathy Griffin on their so-called "purity" rings (the rings supposedly signify that they will wait until marriage to have sex), see her "colorful" comments on that here. As it turns out, the acerbic, red-headed comedienne was right, this is/was pure bull$#!t -- catch this excerpt from a British teen-tabloid for more on that. But I'm not naïve: I realize they're the latest boy-band craze that makes pre-pubescent girls' hearts flutter, and I could live with that. But what gets me is when all of it's just a snow-job presented as legitimate philanthropy.

They're just the latest in a long line of boy-band and singer sensations. History is full of them: the Jonas Brothers aren't the first, and most certainly won't be the last, and like it or not, their days in this role are numbered, as there's many eager would-be stars only too ready to replace them. We need look back no further to 1997 when another brother band called Hanson dominated the charts with a song called "Mmm Bop" that had the same effect on tween girls at the time.

Back in the 1970's, my sister was briefly in love with another teen idol by the name of Shaun Cassidy, when he performed his #1 hit single "Da Doo Ron Ron" and then later appeared on TV on the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew show, I thought the shreeks coming from her would deafen me. Fortunately, they didn't. Two decades earlier, there was another teen boy-idol named Ricky Nelson, who began his career on his parents' Ozzie & Harriet TV show, and then later cashed in on his celebrity by extending it (quite successfully) to music and enjoyed success into the 1960's. My mother claims she thought (at the time) he was soooo cute.

But the sad reality is that the Jonas Brothers aren't entirely organic (and they weren't all that successful) until a senior Disney exec named Bob Iger came along with lots of cash and a master plan to create and leverage tween "franchises" across multiple media channels that was well-documented in The Wall Street Journal and other business media (see here for one such story). This plan really began with "High School Musical", then "Hannah Montana" and has since been extended to the Jonas Bros. These figures are emblazoned on products galore and it just so happens that the whole diabetes thing fits quite neatly into this squeaky-clean picture. But be assured, Nicky Jonas (and maybe his parents) is cashing in on it.

The Jonas boys (and their parents) aren't stupid, but they aren't exactly as philanthropic to the larger diabetes community as they seem to suggest. In fact, it's rumored that Nick Jonas got a fat check for $500,000 from the JDRF to do the Congressional testimony although detailed evidence to back that up is hard to come by, as the 990 annual filings with the IRS for nonprofits on file for JDRF don't require that level of specificity. That cost (if it was incurred) could potentially be included in another line-item on the financial statements, and even then, it might have been payable to some other entity, like the firm who booked him for JDRF (or even to an advertising agency), and it might also be blended with other expenses in the same broad category, since line-item reporting is fairly broadly defined.

This past summer, there was all kinds of internet chatter on the web, Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere about how Nick Jonas' had testified with JDRF before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on June 24, 2009 ("Type 1 Diabetes Research: Real Progress and Real Hope for a Cure") about his fairly brief life with diabetes (at least one kid who was YOUNGER than him who also testified has lived more years with diabetes than Nick Jonas has). He also appeared at the National Press Club on August 21, 2009 and the news and video clips were then subsequently shown all over the web (which fits in perfectly with Bob Iger's original plans for the Jonas "franchise"), and plenty of bloggers wrote about it like it was really news. Truthfully, I really wanted to vomit from it all.

Yes, the supposedly über talented pre-teen idol even wrote and performs a 'touching' song about his oh-so optimistic outlook on life with type 1 diabetes called "A Little Bit Longer" about how we'll have to wait just "a little bit longer" for a cure, but that will be alright in the end. That's supposed to be an inspiration to all the other people with type 1 that, in his words (from his Congressional testimony) "they can live with diabetes and still make their dreams come true". More cheerleading is not what people with diabetes lack, what we lack is truthfulness and honesty about the situation from almost everyone. My friend Deb Butterfield (author of "Showdown With Diabetes") once eloquantly wrote:

"Using reassuring voices and sweet smiles, nurses convey the message that if you do as you're told, then everything will be okay – just as in the NDEP campaign, they are telling their patients that diabetes is controllable, and if they control it, they will be fine. But the truth is that no study, not even the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial, has ever been able to show that diabetes management can prevent complications."

It is this lack of honesty that helps to explain the meteoric rise of all the diabetes blogs and various other social networks serving the diabetes community, as thousands now flock to these things to share stories about what a crock the "5 year" promise is, and how no one believes it. But someone hasn't filled Nicky Jonas in on this little tidbit yet!

My response to Nick's supposed philanthropy: fine, if you were paid by JDRF, fess up, give all of it back and admit it, and if you're really so generous to the cause, donate all the money you now get from the Bayer Diabetes Care endorsements to JDRF or the DRI. Maybe, in 30 more years, and there's still no cure (which may be likely), you can then put your songwriting and performance skills into that. I have some ideas I'm more than willing to share (including one for a song listed below)!

Trust me, Nicky, even with millions of dollars from all your endorsement deals and Disney promos, those unsubstantiated claims aren't terribly comforting, they grow ever more irritating as time goes by. Plus, your "simple-wins" (the tagline from your Bayer Diagnostics campaign) may not be enough to protect YOU from complications, bud. Maybe you'll be able to extend your window of fame, but the odds aren't really in your favor -- if you don't believe me, just ask former 1970's teen-idol Leif Garrett, who was once in a similar place as you are now!

I have no complaint about legitimate philanthropy, but when you're getting paid (handsomely) by charitable organizations and also endorsing diabetes products, but acting like it's genuine charity work, then I take issue.

Nick Jonas may or may not be the next Leif Garrett (who got arrested in the Los Angeles subway system for heroin possession, talk about tween idols in decline), but perhaps in 30 years he'll consider writing a different, more honest song about life with diabetes entitled "It's always just 5 more years away!".

Who knows, I might actually PAY to download a song like that to my iPod, and I would definitely promise NOT to change the station if I heard it as I do with all of his music today!


P.S. It's not my intention to turn this post into a flame-war. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, as am I. But please realize that I DO moderate comments on this blog, so try to keep comments relevant and ideally, substantiated if you try to challenge me on something!