If I belonged to any of these respective groups, I would be ashamed of this negative attention the company has brought.
The shirt company first caught the public's attention when it released a commercial for it's "Racism Is Not Over, But I'm Over Racism" shirt by using black kids from the town of Ferguson, just weeks after Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer. The video starts off by saying, "Hey white people!" and then continues to chastise the entire white race for Michael Brown's death. NEWS FLASH. People of all races contribute to racism, and people from all races help to end it!
The latest video has become most popular. It contains six young girls dressed up like pretty princesses defending feminism by dropping the F-word dozens of times. These girls, some as young as six, are preaching a message they cannot possibly understand or believe in given their age. I believe that this feminist and anti-sexist video is actually creating the opposite of what it stands for! It's odd that in this video they talking about ending abuse, when the children they use themselves are being props used to sell a t-shirt. These videos are scripted. These children are reading lines or, for those to young to read, are copying what an adult tells them to say. The video's goal is to prove that terms such a "rape" and "pay inequality" are worse than standard "bad words". But here's the problem: having little girls spew explicit language does nothing but catch attention and corrupt their young malleable minds. I get that it's not language that is wrong, it is the intent of it, but these young ladies aren't mature enough to distinguish that.
If you look beyond the insane amount of F-words these little girls are reading off their cue cards, you will find even more offense. This line said my the youngest girl especially caught my attention: "Here's a hot tip: stop trying to tell girls how to dress and start teaching boys how to not f-ing rape." That statement completely destroys any last shred of credibility the video might have still possessed because it is completely sexist toward men! Men face descrimination and pressure because of the gender ALL. THE. TIME. How dare this company imply that every man is a twisted, villainous, rapist?! This comment on the video summed up most of my feelings: "In what world do you tell a six-year-old child that she's going to be raped or sexually assaulted when she's older? That is incredibly offensive to me. And you know what else is offensive? The logic behind this video, and the IDEA that women in the United States are oppressed. Go to Saudi Arabia, come back, and then whine to me about how oppressed women are in the United States." That is not to say that sexism doesn't exist in the US, it does. But women are being stoned by ISIS for not being fertile, wanting an education, or refusing to let their husbands rape them. I believe that instead of hyper focussing on what's wrong, our society should be hyper focussed on not focussing on gender! Isn't that the issue? By not judging someone based on gender, I believe the issue would completely resolve itself.
This video has received 50% positive feedback and 50% negative feedback, so technically it can't be called a success. BUT what it has done is create conversation, debate, and brought attention to gender equality. Whether you agree with the content of the video, that fact can't be denied. My question is: is it worth sacrificing little girls innocence in order to do that? Little girls should not be exposed or cohersed into saying bad words, thinking about rape and gender violence, and raised with the expectation of discrimination. Regardless of the language, by having these girls say these things, If you think like a victim, you become the victim.
Another question I have: If you're really promoting equality across your brand, then why are 99% of your t-shirt models white and stick thin? If you truly believe in what your promoting then wouldn't your own models be diverse in shape, size, and color?
Another question I have: If you're really promoting equality across your brand, then why are 99% of your t-shirt models white and stick thin? If you truly believe in what your promoting then wouldn't your own models be diverse in shape, size, and color?
Hannah Payne, the children being used for an anti abuse message to a degree are themselves being abused for the way they are made to act for the video, that is good Hannah. All your points are valid, the company is in it to make money which compromises the credibility of their message as you say. I particularly liked the end when you point out that their models have model body types making it obvious that the company is captive to the cash and not the cause. Hannah you exposed this company on many levels, they have a legitimate massage but packaged it to appeal to the darker side of their audience in order to gain a greater audience in order to make more money. I can’t help think here how the church does the same thing so often.
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