Young Faces Inc.
Consumer Experience
According to several parents who emailed, for about a $100 registration fee, they attended a weekend Glamour Model Pageant, entering their very young daughters, typically about two years old. The pageant had as many as 75 children.
Then a day, a week, or two weeks later, they received a letter from Young Faces Inc.
Young Faces Inc. states in the letter they have seen their child, or a photo of their child, and ask the parents to bring their child to an interview with Young Faces. (Some parents wonder how they saw their child, but they attend the interview, nevertheless.)
At the interview, Young Faces Inc. solicits about $150 per child for advertising space in a "book" or "catalog," which they say is sent to modeling agencies, the idea being modeling agents will see the child, then sign them to the agency, so they can receive work as child models.
Young Faces tells parents they are not a modeling agency and they get no commission if an agency picks up a child. They just give out their name and address, and the agency contacts them directly. All they do is publish a directory, a publication they say is sent to companies and individuals who utilize the services of contracting models.
Parents then wrote and asked if Young Faces is legitimate. They note Young Faces Inc. and Glamour Model Pageant had Better Business Bureau membership, but they are still not sure, wondering not only if the company is legitimate, but also if the concept is legitimate.
Comments
A background check determined Kami Arrotti is the President of Glamour Pageants AND Young Faces! (You can verify this with PA state corporate records.) Yet no parent who inquired about the legitimacy of Glamour Pageants and/or Young Faces has ever been informed by Kami Arrotti or a representative of Glamour Pageants or Young Faces that she owns both companies. Parents were under the impression they were two separate, independent companies, with different owners.
There should have been written disclosure in any and all agreements that Kami Arrotti is the President of Glamour Pageants and Young Faces. The EIC Code of Ethics: An Ethical Standard for Talent Agents says: "It is not a condition of representation that an agent stipulates the photographer, printer, school or any other service provider for the client. Should an agent have any financial interest in above named businesses, full disclosure about said interest must be provided ... If an agent recommends a service provider in which they have a financial interest, it must be disclosed to the client at the time of recommendation."
While Young Faces states they are not an agency, and it is believed they do not have an employment agency license, which is required of modeling agencies in Pennsylvania, the same basic business disclosure principle applies. It is reasonable to say if every parent was given full disclosure, they would not all sign up for the Young Faces book. Indeed, at least one parent said when she found out Arrotti owns both companies, she was not going to pay a second time.
The Glamour Pageants and Young Faces referral arrangement allows Arrotti to double her income; first parents pay for her pageant; then they pay for her book.
The question of the legitimacy of the book idea can be answered by determining the success rate of the book. Yet no consumers have reported being told how many of the children who appear in the Young Faces book either get signed by a modeling agency or get work as models after signing with an agency, nor have they been provided with documentary evidence of the success rate.
It must be noted that no modeling agencies in published books have recommended faces of children be published in books, then sent to the agencies, as if this is how they can get discovered. Moreover, it is not a common practice. Indeed, modeling agencies, whose advice should be sought in such matters, not a company which is trying to sell something, ask parents to simply contact them directly.
Agents are typically interested only in potential child models who are near the agency. Therefore, the agencies in the phone book are the ones which should be contacted.
"Another common scheme comes from firms that charge people hundreds or even thousands of dollars to be listed in their "talent directories," which are then mailed to agents and producers. It seems like a great way to be seen, but in reality, most agents don't even glance at these directories. The vast majority of directories end up in the trash as unopened dreams."1 -- Natasha Esch, President, Wilhelmina Models
Related: Parent's Complaint
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1. Natasha Esch, Wilhelmina's World of Child Modeling, (Hawthorne: Career Press, 1994), 70.
See also "Beauty Pageants: The Cost of Fame," BBB, Mar. 12, 2004. https://www.bbb.org/alerts/article.asp?ID=245 [Aug. 6, 2004].
