Pay £350 to meet Cheryl … Because she's worth it?

Cheryl Cole did a L'Oréal advert some time ago that was criticised because it featured the singer and former X-Factor judge tossing a gorgeous mane of extensions. The hair, the advert claimed, was "full of life". In fact, it was as dead as the proverbial doornail, shorn from some other woman's head. No matter. Cole – like the rest of us, according to L'Oréal – is "worth it". Cole, it turns out, has a staggeringly grandiose sense of her own worth. Fans are indignant because they are being offered opportunities to meet her backstage on her tour, be photographed with her, and get an autograph – for £350. It all makes Cole seem like a ride at a theme park, or one of those seaside photo boards that you stick your head through. Still, the market decides, and if people are silly enough to want to buy 30 seconds of Cole, plus a recorded memory "to treasure for ever", then I guess that's their affair. The most depressing thing about it is that one simply has to throw one's up hands and concede the biggest wonder is that no "star" seems to have decided to rent themselves out in quite such a blatantly exploitative way before.