Concern as Will Smith puts his kids on display

As Will Smith and his entire family travel the globe to promote The Karate Kid, there is puzzlement at the way Smith and his wife, the actress Jada Pinkett Smith, are using their children to promote their multi-million-dollar movie. Jaden and Willow Smith - who are named after the couple – have been entered into the limelight at every opportunity as part of the Karate Kid hype.
 
The couple's 12-year-old son Jaden is the star of the film, which the Smiths produced. It is one of a handful of TV and movie roles the boy already has under his belt, including the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness in which he co-starred with his father.
 
This summer, the pint-sized actor - sometimes wearing a mini Michael Jackson outfit – has been put in front of audiences at international premieres from Beijing to Berlin.
 
Jaden has received good reviews for The Karate Kid - praised for his onscreen charisma, acting ability and karate moves – but questions are being asked about the parents' expectations of his very central role in the film's PR strategy.

"It's bizarre," one producer told The First Post. "They're behaving like a hard-up family desperate to get onto a TV reality show – yet they could hardly be more famous if they tried. Until Barack Obama came along, we used to think Will might go into politics and become our first black president.”
 
More surprising, perhaps, is the use of Jaden's nine-year-old sister, Willow, in the Karate Kid PR circus. She isn't in the film, but she has accompanied the rest of the family to every premiere - confidently posing in Union Jack trousers in London's Leicester Square and pulling off a designer 'Max Max' outfit in Madrid.
 
In central Paris on Sunday, the Smiths were happy to let Willow have her picture taken by press photographers as they walked to the French premiere of The Karate Kid.

In the course of their celebrity stroll, Will and Jada 'gate-crashed' a French couple's wedding party, at which point Willow - dressed like a mini-version of singer Rihanna in denim shorts, motorbike boots and a punkish assymetrical haircut - struck a series of poses for the pararazzi.
 
This could be just the start of Willow's press exposure, it seems. According to the Smiths' stylist, Mariel Haenn, both the nine-year-old and her brother are set to start their own fashion lines. Willow and Jaden are also tipped to appear together in Amulet, a film based on a series of graphic novels aimed at teenage readers.
 
One member of the Smith family who has managed to avoid the media glare is Will Smith's oldest child from his first marriage, 17-year-old son Willard Smith II, otherwise known as Trey.

As an 11-year-old, Trey appeared in All of Us, a TV comedy co-produced by Will and Jada between 2003 and 2007. While they also roped in Jaden for half a dozen appearances, Trey bailed after just two episodes and has not done any more film or TV since. ·