Justin Bieber’s Shiny New Nails: Move Over Lady Gaga

Justin Bieber pimple products, Justin Bieber perfume, Justin Bieber nailpolish. Who wants to be Justin Bieber? Apparently anyone who is a tween. With 6 million Twitter fans, trailing Lady Gaga at 7 million, it seems that the tween world is beyond a bit obsessed with Bieber. And we’re not talking about his music, or his movies. Or are we?

The branding of new young stars has become so commercialized it’s hard to separate wanting to watch someone with wanting to “be” them.

The pint-sized mogul who recently released his memoir Justin Bieber: First Step 2 Forever: My Story is no stranger to self-merchandising. An entrepreneur at heart, Bieber is currently selling popular lines of toys, dolls and even bedding for those fans within incurable “Bieber Fever”.

Perhaps this 16 year old heartthrob and musician is just following in the footsteps of fashionistas like Calvin Klein who began to market to men, but then gained a fem following. Why not Bieber?

Timing couldn’t be better.

With the holidays around the corner, The Biebs is giving fans another outlet to monetarily show their love and support, with the release of his own glittery nail polish dubbed, “One Less Lonely Girl”. Yeah, like the song. Bieber is not just merchandising. He’s cross-merchandising.

Bieber teamed up with mega brand Nicole to produce the small collection, that during the holidays, can be purchased exclusively at Wal-Mart. Although anxious fans will have to wait until January to use all 14 shades, the first six shades will be available in stores this December. Another marketing move? Make them love you, make them wait?

So does this mean we will be seeing Bieber wearing his own nail polish in the near future? In an age where musicians, actors, and artists are blurring gender lines, and celebrity is the new expert, Justin Bieber may just be the smartest kid alive. Or has this merchandising of our young gone too far?

Just when has merchandising gone too far? Can you be over exposed publicity-wise? Does it matter if we are turning our kids into publicity machines for the sake of selling stuff? Please weigh in.