It’s “my Thursday morning”… and it’s time for some speculation. Although I am posting about “Lady” Gaga, I don’t have pics of her here as I am not interested in either getting sued by the holders of the photo rights or in paying licensing fees. So get ready to click on the links, thank you.

Since last week when “Lady” Gaga performed in Amsterdam and pictures from that gig showed up on the Internet showing her with some extra 20+ pounds that she has allegedly packed on recently, the buzz is on.

While the media roar about how fat Gaga looks and how she is a bad example to kids regarding obesity and drug use (not discussed that in this article), regular folk and all sorts of experts fire back that “curvy is cool” and healthy as they then continue with the “stick insects are ugly and unhealthy” rhetoric.

I am intrigued with other things though. The rumour has it that Gaga has been using a body double. Of course, there is no “official information” regarding that because it would make her liable for pulling off a scam. If I pay $200 to go to her gig, I expect her to perform. Here is one such article containing a photo comparison and starting this rumour.

http://www.vh1.com/celebrity/2012-09-19/lady-gaga-in-amsterdam-is-this-for-real-or-are-we-smoking-something/

I’ve also read comment boards very carefully and have seen people who went to her gigs in Ireland six days before the Amsterdam gig writing, that she was in her regular shape (no extra pounds) while performing in Ireland.

Some more pics from her in Amsterdam as she greeted her fans and looking pretty much like always and then her on stage in Amsterdam:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2205886/Lady-Gaga-covers-fuller-figure-long-sleeved-white-dress-piling-30lbs.html

Given the fact that she just launched “Body Revolution” on her social networking platform for her Little Monsters, having a body double for a few gigs OR to authorise photoshopped gig pics only to create buzz makes perfect sense from a PR standpoint. This might piss off some of her fans who might be reading this, but this is one of the ways how PR for a product launch can work. If this is a publicity stunt for “Body Revolution” it’s an excellent idea – it costs no extra money (as a PR campaign can be very costly) and no extra time going to interviews and setting up the whole product launch the traditional way.

In my personal opinion Gaga looks a lot skinnier in her Switzerland gigs as far as I saw on the internet. She also looks a lot skinnier in her “Body Revolution” pics:

http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/lady-gaga-launches-a-body-revolution-and-is-a-slut#slide=53370626

And these are supposedly recent pics as she has famously become a brunette.

Either way, this is how show business typically works. It is all about pulling off something to create free advertisements and give people something to talk about. In show business most things are fabricated and displayed to match the predetermined script. And it’s easy to get away with any setup because the PR agencies and media know that fans won’t care and would never believe anything bad being said about the artist. And anyone who disagrees with the official story can be labelled as a ”hater” etc.

Body double, Photoshop, weight gain or not – one thing is clear – Gaga’s PR team might have needed to launch a new product. It smells like that if you look at that from a business perspective…