Would You Boycott Britney?

Four major Swedish newspapers have threatened to boycott Brit-Brit’s show. Is it because of the skimpy costumes she sports in “The Circus” tour? Nope.

The papers are peeved because of all the rules Spears has when it comes to photographing the diva. Spears’ photog contract states that papers cannot resell pictures and can’t publish photos more than 30 days after the show.

Swedish papers Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Expressen and Aftonbladet say that if it’s Spears’ way or the highway, they’ll just take the highway. The papers say that unless Spears agrees to tweak certain conditions in regards to how the images can be used, the publications won’t send photographers to the show.

Dagens Nyheter photo editor Roger Turesson said, “The next step would be to tell critics they can’t write anything critical.”

Hmm. Does Britney have so many photo rules because of tabloid articles like a recent U.K. Mirror story whose headline declared “Britney Spears looking fuller figured on Paris outing of Circus tour – see the pics”?

The article include three not so great photos and wrote, “Showing off her newly-dyed brunette hair, Britters appeared to have a spare [tire] as she writhed around behind bars in her bra and pants as part of the show. It may just have been an unflattering photo angle, or it may be that the junkfood-loving Toxic star has started chunking up a bit again.”

Or maybe it’s just that Spears doesn’t want papers cashing in on her fame by selling images to other publications.

Swedish photographers at the show or not, ticket sales at Spears’ shows are doing AOK. Brit Brit’s Circus tour came in first place for gross ticket sales in North America for the first six months of 2009. Spears’ 37 shows in 30 cities resulted in an average of 20,498 tickets sold per show at an average price of $99.29 for a total gross of $61.1 million. Spears’ ticket sales came in third worldwide – 48 shows in 33 cities at an average ticket price of $95.04 and grossing 74.6 million total.

After performing in Stockholm, Britney is on to Finland, Russia, Poland and Canada followed by a month-long U.S. tour and a number of Australian shows. Dates are on the books through November.

Click here for Britney Spears’ website.

Click here for the AP article.

Click here for the Mirror article.