Riff Rant: Avril Lavigne Complicates Meet & Greets
This week, Avril Lavigne once again became the target of pointing and laughing after photos and details about her $400 fan Meet & Greets 
made their way online.
From what we understand, Lavigne has a strict no-touching policy. This means that if you’ve forked out the funds to get a backstage photograph with Mrs. Nickelback, you can smile, strike a ridiculous pose, and make damn sure that you’re roughly an arms-length away from what looks like a cardboard cut-out of a celebrity.
In all fairness to Lavigne, she is likely not the first celebrity to put this type of policy into place. Some individuals that require these close encounters are weirdos. I’ve seen them. And for this, I can totally understand her interest in maintaining a distance.
But, if you want to maintain such a distance from all of your fans, eliminate this cash grab of a promotional strategy from your repertoire. Yes, some people will pay for an ‘experience’ such as this, so money could be missed out on, but wouldn’t you rather that than looking like a complete asshole?
I’ve never understood the concept of paying for a photo with a celebrity, or in this case, a famous musician. I can understand them not wanting to take photos with fans. Some don’t want that hassle in their lives, while others want to prop up an invisible wall in order to hold onto whatever mystique they think they have. I may not totally understand that, but I appreciate the honesty.
For those artists who don’t have those parameters and instead choose to pull more dollars away from people that likely spent $50-$200 for a concert ticket; $15-$20 on an album; and $50 on concert merch, shame on them.
Fans are what allowed them to build up this bizarre sense of arrogance and put them into venues that have big enough rooms to facilitate Meet & Greets. They should be paying fans. They should be shaking fan hands and saying ‘thank you for the support.’ How can such an exchange be had when both parties know that it cost an extra $400 to make it happen?
Meet & Greets for these arena- and stadium-sized acts should be provided to contest winners; social media champions; or long-time fan club members…not those who have higher credit limits.
So, for Lavigne to not so much as pretend to show any type of affection for her fans – at $400 a shot – is an utter disgrace. Either totally embrace your fans, or don’t. How complicated can that be?
It’s not like we’re asking you to write a concerto.
-Adam Grant
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