Tonight Disney premieres its latest teeny bopper blockbuster musical, “Camp Rock,” on the Disney Channel, ABC Family and ABC networks and critics are already saying it’s going to be as huge as “High School Musical.” The Wall Street Journal says, even for Disney, the publicity blitz that has surrounded this show has been intense. And once again, producers are banking it all on an olive-skinned character played by fifteen year-old Irish/Italian/”Hispanic”/Texan Demi Lovato opposite virginal white boy Joe Jonas (of the musical group The Jonas Brothers who brag about wearing purity rings— what is happening to rock?) Sound familiar? It should. It’s pretty much Vanessa Hudgeons Hudgens and Zach Effron all over again. Except the press is saying she’s being groomed to be the next Miley Cyrus. Expendable talent, much?

To their credit, Disney does seem to be pioneering the integration of the Latina into the mainstream. (Lovato has been best friends with Selena Gomez, another Disney girl who stars in “Wizards of Waverly Place,” since their days back on “Barney.”) And if kids today are more conditioned to seeing Latinas in the media mix, they might even be more accepting of them in real life. But, as we’ve covered here before, none of this necessarily bodes well for the actresses themselves on a personal level. See: Vanessa Hudgeons Hudgens, Britney Spears, et al. But that seems to be the case for a lot of child actors. So as long as there are kids wanting to break into show business and moms who want fame, (Lovato’s mom Deanna Lovato nee De La Garza was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader in the 80’s and an alleged country recording artist we couldn’t find any record of online and her older daughter Dallas is also an aspiring entertainer—all the makings of a Lohanian affair if we’ve ever seen one.), we suppose the Disney child-star machine will continue. We do have one question, though. Where are all the little brown boys? Are they just not as marketable? Cuz, in case you haven’t heard, AC Slater is old.

Disney Revs Up Tween Star Machine [Wall Street Journal]
‘Camp Rock’ film could make Demi Lovato a star [NY Daily News]
Related: A Whole New World: How Disney Child Stars are Popping Culture and Taking You Down With Them