Child beauty pageants are a billion-dollar industry in the U.S. While some critics see the pageants as an exploitation of innocents, others—particularly pageant parents—view the competitions as a way for a young talent to enter the entertainment industry.

A painter was drawing a lion head body painting on a model during the auto show on March 15, 2015. The local 2015 auto show was held in Xuchang Stadium in Xuchang, Henan Province, China. The exhibitors tried a variety of ways for promotion and attracting people's attention. Some exhibitors were giving gifts to the people scanning their QR codes and add them onto friends list. An auto company has invited young s*x underwear models and drew body paintings on the girls. (Photo by Xu Zhongxin/Sipa Asia)

An aerial view of a man standing on Lake Tuz, Turkiye's second largest lake, during sunset in Ankara, Turkiye on April 22, 2024. The lake, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List with its unique natural structure, welcomes many local and foreign tourists every year as it provides 70 per cent of the country's salt needs. (Photo by Hakan Nural/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A masquerade dances to drums along the streets during the kankurang Festival in Janjanbureh on January 27, 2024. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005, Kankurang, a combination of the Mandingo words “kango” and “Kurango”, literally translated as “voice” and “force”, ensures the transmission and teaching of the values and practices that form the basis of Mandingo cultural identity, a West African people whose historical home was the Mali empire. (Photo by Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP Photo)

In this photograph taken on October 27, 2017 an Afghan woman collects saffron flowers after picking them in a field on the outskirt of Herat For years, Afghanistan has tried to give farmers alternatives such as fruit crops and saffron to wean them away from poppy farming – the lifeblood of the Taliban insurgency. International donors have splurged billions of dollars on counter- narcotics efforts in Afghanistan over the past decade, including efforts to encourage farmers to switch to other cash crops such as saffron. But those efforts have shown little results. (Photo by Hoshang Hashimi/AFP Photo)

In this February 20, 2018 photo, fair vendor Noelia Flores holds up a black backdrop behind a small statue of an “Ekeko”, the god of prosperity, for a portrait at her booth during the annual Alasita Fair in La Paz, Bolivia. Every year, thousands of Bolivians head to the feast of Alasitas that is held in his honor to buy miniature cars, houses and toy dollar bills symbolizing their dreams of prosperity. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Filipino mermaid swimming teacher Genevieve Reyes (C) has her tail adjusted by students during a lesson by the Philippines Mermaid Swimming Academy in a private swimming pool in Makati, Manila, Philippines, 15 June 2013. The Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy (PMSA) was created in 2012 in Boracay by Normeth Preglo of The Philippines and US swimming instructor Djuna Rocha. The swimming lessons were brought to Manila in April 2013. The price for a two-hour class is 37 US dollars. (Photo by Dennis M. Sabangan/EPA)

Afghan dogs fight during the weekly dog fight in Kabul, Afghanistan, 17 February 2017. Under the Taliban dog fighting was forbidden, but since their fall it has become a major source of entertainment for hundreds of Afghans, where bets can amount to thousands of dollars and the dogs, which must be over one year old, are well-cared for by their owners and fed milk, butter and meat. (Photo by Hedayatullah Amid/EPA)