Mother Lies To Win Hannah Montana Tickets

[Midnight Mike]

GARLAND, Texas (AP) — An essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert began with the powerful line: "My daddy died this year in Iraq."

While gripping, it wasn't true — and now the girl may lose her tickets after her mom acknowledged to contest organizers it was all a lie.

The sponsor of the contest was Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.

The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.

The mother had told company officials that the girl's father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said.

"We did the essay and that's what we did to win," Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. "We did whatever we could do to win."

She had identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq. Caulfield said the mother has admitted to the deception.

"We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl's holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated," said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu.

Drolet said the company is reviewing the matter, and is considering taking away the girl's tickets.

[PhilDernerJr]

First, what the hell is Hanna Montana?

The saddest part here is that the mother has no problem with this, and has passed on this irresponsibility, selfishness and disrespect on to her 6-year-old daughter.

Part of me likes to look at the social influences that may have made these people think that their behavior is ok, Whether it be the media or their family lives.

In this case, the mother said "We did whatever we could do to win." Sound familiar? Turn on the TV. Any channel will do. Watch a reality competition and you'll see the same cut-throat mentality.

I see this as a combination of television teaching people that manipulation to win is ok, and that people can't separate right from wrong.

[NIKV69]

Its a Disney channel series in which the lead is a girl who lives a double life as a girl next door student during the day and pop singer at night. Glad to see she is instilling values in her fans.

[Mellyrose]

It's not her fault that this woman did this! How could you even insinuate that?

I didn't even know who this girl was until my brother started talking about her about a month ago. I STILL have no clue what the hype is about, but seriously, how can you blame her for what that woman did?

[NIKV69]

It's not her fault that this woman did this! How could you even insinuate that?

You know that is funny Mel as I read my post I don't see where I placed blame in the show or the lead character. What I meant is that Disney is trying to show that a girl can still be a pop star and still lead a normal life and be a role model for little girls. I haven't seen the show but one of my younger cousins loves her (She is young and very mature for her age) and says shs likes the fact the main character can enjoy fame and be down to earth and wholesome. Maybe you need to watch Disney or understand what they are about to pass judgement on my words.

I STILL have no clue what the hype is about,

Well maybe you condone the act of lying about death in war or make light of the fact it was used to get tickets for an event but I expect a little more in people I guess. I view it as a pretty *hitty thing to do.

[Mellyrose]

I didn't even know who this girl was until my brother started talking about her about a month ago. I STILL have no clue what the hype is about...

I meant I had no clue what the hype about HANNAH MONTANA is. If you hadn't misquoted me, that would have been obvious.

And your tone was very sarcastic, indicating that it was the "values" she "instilled" that led this woman to do such stupid things.

[adam613]

Remember that show Jem that was on when we were kids? It's kinda like Jem except it's live action, so there are much more expensive merchandising opportunities.

I'm not surprised at this...for all of the good messages in the show, it seems to encourage unethical behavior.

With these concerts, they set up some lottery system so that everyone would get an equal chance at getting tickets, but the concert promoters beat the system and got all of the tickets, and resold them for many times the face value. It was all over the news, but nobody did anything about it. I was rather amused.