Kristen Bell's Anti-Paparazzi Campaign Gains Heat

There are some rather uncomfortable things that come along with the fascination over celebrity culture. One of those, which is definitely high in the creep factor, is the high circulation of paparazzi pictures of celebrity children. Veronica Mars and Frozen actress Kristen Bell's been crusading for the end of this culture-sanctioned child stalking — and there are a couple new developments that make it seem her campaign's building some heat.

“I have confidence that the American public wants to be well-informed consumers,” Bell told BuzzFeed in an interview at the beginning of February. “I think if they knew that in order for them to get a picture of a kid at the park, it means that kid was followed by nine strange men, who are yelling and calling him names, for 16 blocks, I think people would choose not to look at the pictures if they knew the psychological impact that has on the kid.”

Website JustJared responded by declaring themselves a part of the #NoKidsPolicy and committed to not running photos of celebrity children who are not already public figures on their own. “Kids of public figures have a right to be respected as private citizens," Jared End said in a statement. "So unauthorized photos will no longer have a place on our sites.”

People Magazine also responded with a statement from editorial director Jess Cagle saying something similar — though it's notable their message was more "We won't do it, we swear! Unless we feel like it! Then we'll totally do it!" than anything else:

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.

[...] Of course, there may be rare exceptions based on the news-worthiness of photos. And there’s always the tough balancing act we face when dealing with stars who exploit their children one day, and complain about loss of privacy the next.

In other words: Bell's campaign is a noble one, one that will hopefully make life better for the celebrity children who in no way asked to be in the public eye just by being born. Hopefully what she's doing — and how these sites and magazines are responding — will continue to lessen demand until no one's kids have to worry about being stalked or hunted.