At 12:06 p.m. today, the PR team for American Idol runner-up David Archuleta announced that he signed to 19 Recordings/Jive Records, accompanying the fluffy article with an even fluffier picture of the 17-year-old decked out in a bitchin' all-white ensemble. Hooray for David! At 1:30 p.m., they issued another press release with a new photo—same bitchin' outfit, different facial expression and lighting—and "advised" editors to replace the old one with the new. Why the sudden change?
The simplest explanation is that the second picture is just plain better than the first. But even though pointing out the differences in facial expression may feel as trivial as playing that cartoon game in the Sunday comics, first impressions do matter—especially if Archuleta wants to challenge reigning King Gayface (and artificial inseminator) Clay Aiken for a date with every single middle-aged soccer mom in America.
What conflicting messages do these photos send for Archuleta's prenatal career? Radar speculates, after the jump.