Although economic pressures have caused stretch limousines to be replaced by vans and minicoaches as the vehicles of choice for executive group travel, limos will always symbolize the epitome of elegance and glamour. If this were not true, the not-yet-completed
Audi R8 stretch limousine wouldn’t have seen the deluge of prom bookings that it has. Stretch limos, although atrophied in popularity since their Golden Days, are steady staples for special events such as weddings, proms and beauty pageants.
Nothing says luxury like a stretch limousine, so it makes sense that beauty queen hopeful Adriana “Chi-Chi” Robles rides in her very own limo on the way to her pageants. What doesn’t make sense, to this author, at least, is that Adriana is subject to hitting the beauty pageant circuit at the fragile age of 5. From the video below, one can clearly see that Adriana’s mother is the real beneficiary of the glitz and glamour that comes with being a beauty queen and is living vicariously through her daughter at the expense of her daughter’s psychological well-being.
It’s great when kids get to experience the opulence of a limousine when they’ve earned it through good grades or during a charity/fundraiser event or as part of a children’s party, because it creates future bridal and professional clients. But lines have to be drawn somewhere, and it’s totally unacceptable when a self-serving mother buys baby girl a limo, titivates it with a suggestive female silhouette license plate, and chauffeurs her to beauty pageants at an age when she probably can’t spell “limousine” or pronounce “chauffeur.” That doesn’t create future limo clients — it creates entitled, damaged, hollow, high-maintenance Prom- and Bride-zillas who end up cavorting with sketchy male substitutes for Chauffeur Mommy Dearest.
— Michael Campos, LCT assistant editor
Print | posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 5:07 PM