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Brandy Day For Prom Queen: Mom Buys Billboard For Daughter's Campaign

Posted: 04/20/2012 4:30 pm Updated: 04/21/2012 10:42 am

Brandy Day Prom

They say money can't buy happiness, but it might just help make Brandy Day prom queen.

The Killeen Daily Herald reports that Tammy Day spent $1200 to $1,300 on newspaper ads, fliers and a giant billboard promoting her daughter's campaign for prom queen.

"She's my only child and she's all I have," Day told the Herald. "This is her last school year and school means an awful lot to her."

One student told ABC News that the publicity campaign is over-the-top.

"That's crazy," he said. "Why would someone go that far for prom queen? That's just overboard."

Despite the big spending, Jezebel suspects the campaign might not work:

No teenagers (nor anyone, really) read print newspaper ads, no one wants their name displayed outside of a Mexican restaurant (actually, that part's maybe the coolest — do Brandy supporters get free tacos?), and it's highly unlikely that an ostentatious billboard will garner the poor girl any votes.

Tammy Day acknowledged to ABC that some parents and students might think her advertising blitz is a bit much.

“But then again, it only happens one time in your child’s life,” she said.

For more on this story, watch the video report above.

UPDATE: Tammy Day sent this response to The Huffington Post:

In ref to: Jezebel statements: Of course teens don't read newspaper nor pay any attention to billboards along roads. THAT was not the PURPOSE! The purpose was to give my Mild Cerebral Palsy (from waist down) daughter for once in her life a "SHINNING MOMENT!" The WOW factor! She has suffered through physical and mental pain from MCP, to being bullied and made fun of by her peers...throughout her school years and she has never ran for any office at school! I felt she deserves to get to shine for once in her life! This is her last prom and school year and I wanted to help make the best possible memories for our family that I could. Thanks to local businesses support, family, and friends who all helped and contributed help make it happen! Brandy made her own flyers, banner, posters, bandanas, buttons, handouts etc...herself at home! To include she campaign locally for herself as I tagged along to hang flyers in local businesses windows etc…. All teens joke all the time about things they wished or want to do, but this one joke I thought was within reach and I collected/campaigned for it! The billboard nor the newspaper ad was NOT her doing. She had NO idea! It was all a complete surprise to her. It is just a shame that others and her peers do not have the desire or the motivation to do the same. All they have to do is “WORK HARD, CAMPAIGN, AND LET PEOPLE KNOW YOU NEED HELP!” But guess that is “TOO MUCH WORK FOR THEM.” That is the problem with these peers of hers, they want all for nothing and if they don’t get it then they look to blame the ones who do! I am a firm believer if you “want something” then “you need to work for it” i.e. campaign strongly, get out and talk to people etc... If you don’t want it, then DON’T TALK BADLY ABOUT OTHER WHO DO AND WORK THEIR BOTTOMS OFF i.e. BRANDY! It is no different than what politicians do, the president, mayors, city officials etc… You have to put forth the effort! It is only to her peers and other that it is overboard or over the top, because they “chose not to make those special memories for themselves!” I can’t help it if I wanted to GIVE MY DAUGHTER THOSE LAST MEMORIES OF HIGH SCHOOL! SHE HAS WORKED EXTREMELY HARD ON THIS CAMPAIGN AND DESERVES TO SHINE IN HER FINAL SCHOOL YEARS AND HAVE THAT WOW FACTOR (all girl teens want). FAMILY IS IMPORTANT TO US and WE WORK TOGETHER AS A FAMILY FOR EACH OTHER. AGAIN, IT IS NOT A MATTER OF WINNING OR LOOSING, IT IS ABOUT SHINNING, MAKING LASTING MEMORIES WITH ALL THE WOW FACTORS YOU CAN DURING YOUR LAST HIGH SCHOOL YEAR! It is a shame that KATIE J.M. BAKER is a pathetic writer who wrote lies (far from the truth). She is the lowest of the low a very trashy writer/journalist. She gives good journalist/writers a bad rap. But there are those folks who like trash unfortunately. Well Jezebel is not better they placed themselves right along her i.e. trashy, disrespectful, dishonest and the list goes on… Sad that people in this world are making their (Ms. Baker & Jezebel) paycheck by enticing such trash!
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They say money can't buy happiness, but it might just help make Brandy Day prom queen. The Killeen Daily Herald reports that Tammy Day spent $1200 to $1,300 on newspaper ads, fliers and a giant bil...
They say money can't buy happiness, but it might just help make Brandy Day prom queen. The Killeen Daily Herald reports that Tammy Day spent $1200 to $1,300 on newspaper ads, fliers and a giant bil...
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08:29 PM on 06/05/2012
Wow. Brandy's mom needs to get a life. She's teaching her kid how to be a great politician someday--even bad publicity is good publicity, and trash your opponent (or anyone who disagrees with you). Still trying to figure out what a "shinning" moment is.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
abbitha7
Let me guess, you're a "common sense thinker"
04:01 PM on 04/25/2012
This girl is going to look back on high school and realize that it wasn't worth putting all of her energy into. Her mother, on the other hand, appears to be one of those people who burnt out after high school, who think and act like HS was the shining moment of their lives (which it probably was).

I don't want to bash the girl- hopefully this all works out for her and she's happy.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Katie Barber
Liberal Christian Muggle
09:31 AM on 04/24/2012
Why, if you care about your daughter and know she has a history of being bullied, would you give her classmates the biggest target possible for them to attack? Seriously, you can't get much bigger than a billboard (granted everything's bigger in Texas)! With the amount of money she spent, she could have given her daughter the "royal" treatment by purchasing a nice vacation instead of guaranteed mocking.
06:25 AM on 04/24/2012
Wow, mom's rant sounds a little nuts. We had a girl with cerebral palsy in my senior class who wore leg braces. I didn't know her all that well but she went with our group to prom because she was good friends with another friend of mine. She wasn't prom queen, but she did have a date, she danced, she had a great time, and she wasn't teased. I remember her mainly for her big smile and outgoing personality. That's a better thing to be remembered for than "world's most pushy mother."

Mom admits in her rant that her daughter's peers don't appreciate the "extra effort" put into this campaign. Well... those peers are who votes for prom queen, and impressing the people who get to vote is normally the entire point of a campaign. Slagging off the voters on the internet and saying she doesn't care about winning or losing is just a LITTLE different from what politicians do.

I hope only the best for Brandy - being bullied sucks - and she does get to win one victory regardless of whether or not she becomes prom queen: she's out of high school. Kiddo, don't listen to your mom, high school memories don't mean a thing. You have your whole life ahead of you, and the neat thing about NOT being in high school is that if someone is a bully, you never have to see them again, instead of being trapped in a school with them.
03:52 PM on 04/23/2012
There is no reason to be rude, just because someone goes to an extra length to do something for her daughter who happens to be a friend of mine. just because you over zealous pricks didn't get the same treatment while you attended high school doesn't mean you have to say anything. it's better for you not to say anything if you don't know her, or even if you do know her, you do not need to be rude to someone who isn't being rude to you. yes it is true that most people don't buy a build board for there child, but that is no excuse to be harsh. people that are rude now will get karma shoved back in there faces. thanks and have a nice day.
03:00 PM on 04/22/2012
Apparently Mrs. Day thinks the only way her daughter can "shine" is to become prom queen. How pathetic. Maybe she should have taken Brandy and the $1200 and "shined" by buying supplies for women's shelters or abused children's agencies, food for a food bank, or delivered Meals on Wheels, helped out at a animal shelter, or found some needy people through her church to help. Maybe that kind of "shining" is more important. Tammy Day is a shallow indulgent parent and her "shine" is very tarnished.
02:54 PM on 04/22/2012
If Tammy Day had any common sense, she'd know spending $1200 on a prom queen campaign was probably a guarantee that her daughter Brandy would not get ANY votes. Teens tend to vote for the "popular" girls for this honor. The student body likely laughed at the billboard ploy because it seems way too desperate - not to mention over indulgent.
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06:54 PM on 04/21/2012
Day's word salad rivals anything Sarah Palin ever spoke or wrote; so LOUD, so many miss-speld werds, !so! many!! ex!!clam!!!ation!!!!! points!!!!!!

Whatever the intent of the billboard, it sounds to me like the mother doesn't think her daughter can accomplish what others can without herculean efforts on her part (or at least herculean amounts of cash). If she wanted to make a case that other prom queen candidates didn't do the required "work" to get elected she shouldn't have spent $1200.00 on ads and billboards.

She is right about one thing; she said, "It is no different than what politicians do, the president, mayors, city officials etc...". That's why it's not necessarily the best candidate that wins but the one with the most money.
02:24 PM on 04/21/2012
I always wanted to be a cheerleader in junior high and high school. Despite trying out several times, I never made it. I was always crushed each time I was not chosen and watched enviously from the bleachers as I watched the "chosen ones" as they cheered and danced at pep rallies and ball games in their matching uniforms. I understand now from a mother's point of view, especially when you have an only child, how much you want to do for your child to help them get something that they really want, but let's face it. There are just some things that a parent is not going to have control over. This is one of them. And that old saying that you can be whatever you want to be is not necessarily so. I never got to represent my school as a cheerleader because the student body voted for who they wanted. I wasn't popular so I wasn't chosen. My daughter tried out one year to be a "news reporter" in her school. She practiced for hours for this position. During her routine, a teacher entered the room and interrupted and distracted her. Because of this, she was not chosen and despite the teacher's disruption of her routine, she was not given another chance to start over, which I thought was very unfair (this was elementary school), but I just had to explain to my daughter that unfortunately, those things happen to you in life.
viciousvirago
Veritatum Dilexi
08:45 AM on 04/21/2012
Mrs. Day needs to volunteer in a homeless shelter, pick up garbage by the side of the road, or volunteer at a homeless pet shelter to find out what life is about.

Is it any wonder our teenagers lag in nearly every critical aspect of learning compared to other countries? When we spoil them rotten, why are we surprised when they decide to rob a 7-ll because they wanted cigarettes and the guy wouldn't sell them to the kids?

You get (usually) what you put into your kids' heads years later. Sometimes the children even mimic their parents behavior as young as 3 and that means if your whole life revolves around making sure your precious darling is votest the best/cutest/most popular, you're going to have a brat on your hands the rest of your life and you deserve what comes.

Killeen is outside Fort Hood and I'm sure the private and corporal Army wives, who survive on food stamps, are not finding this funny in the least.
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mewcooksitbest
Thanks to this lame security am going home!
08:09 AM on 04/21/2012
How sad, mom is trying to regain her youth though her daughter.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
normalintexas
TaDa!
07:14 PM on 04/20/2012
Seems that mom is living vicariously through her daughter. Poor kid!
06:25 PM on 04/20/2012
Are you kidding me?
05:45 PM on 04/20/2012
i go to that school and she didnt even make it to court!!!!!!!! wow tooo much
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Kittenesque
07:21 PM on 04/20/2012
She did not win? Ahahaha.
02:35 PM on 04/21/2012
Kittenesque, obviously you are a child. Please do not make fun of this girl's situation on the internet. Her mother is the one who put up the billboard. Your comment could come back to haunt you in this day and time.
viciousvirago
Veritatum Dilexi
08:46 AM on 04/21/2012
Thank you for giving me good news. How embarrassing for the kid. How selfish and self-centered the whole family must be to tolerate this 'campaign'.