Campaign Controversy: What is considered appropriate?

Campaign Controversy: What is considered appropriate?

By, Corinne Larsen
December 16th, 2014

            “A fucked up fact: One out of every five women will be sexually assaulted by a man”, a young girl cursed in a recent, viral campaign video against sexism.  On October 22^nd, 2014, the release of a controversial video called “F- Bombs for Feminism” became an issue amongst media consumers around America. FCKH8, a non- profit organization that fights for a movement to end sexism and to improve equality in society chose to create a video of girls between the ages of 6 and 13 cursing their mouths off using vulgar, absurd words, such as “penis” and “fuck” in order to make a point. 

The creators’ position stands asking society, what is more shocking, the fact that sexism is a continuous issue today, or that these children are using harsh profanity? While FCKH8 may have felt this video would be an appropriate and attention- grabbing attempt to gain audience focus on sexism, it brought an extensive amount of controversy and disapproval. The video makes young, innocent girls use harsh language that they had likely never used before the making, exploiting their youth and impacting a shocking reaction on most viewers. Children cursing all over the media is creating an example that this behavior should be accepted, however, these children are only children, and shouldn’t be forced to act inappropriately for the selfish creation of a campaign. The innocence of children should be preserved and cherished, as their youth is arguably the most important time of ones life. Parents involved in the campaign video are to blame while the young individuals are unable to have a say at such a young age, and the concept of “acting” despite the content may seem intriguing to children. 

While some consumers are offended and angry that a campaign on such an important issue would create something with such upsetting content, others argue differently. Some individuals are for the video, including Jennifer Baumgardner, executive director of the Feminist Press. She argues that the video is catchy and a “good example of having a message in a new- media environment”.  Most parents who are approving of the FCKH8 video claim to be victims themselves of rape and or inequality, therefore they believe that any attempt to ending the issue is beneficial, despite its’ content. Sexism is most definitely a prominent and unfortunate occurrence in today’s day and age as women are being paid 23% less than men for the same working positions, and 1 in 5 women are raped or sexually assaulted in gender- based violence (FCKH8). While it is necessary to fight to decrease the issue, several campaigns attempt to do so, and not all have been successful. In order to grasp attention in the media, producers often choose a level of shock value, which will make consumers become interested in what their viewing, but how much is too much? 

 

Contrasting from young girls cursing against feminism, Emma Watson fought for Gender Equality during a speech for the UN in launch of the HeForShe campaign. Her speech on September 21^st, 2014 was powerful and respectable. She brought in positive attention from media consumers around the world, impressed with her stance and words of encouragement to increase gender equality and awareness. Watson defines feminism in her speech by, “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.” Rather than irrationally throwing out facts on why women should be treated equally, she intelligently acted on the issue, unlike other campaigns, such as the FCKH8 video. Watson explains the importance of men taking part in decreasing sexism by saying, “I want men to take us this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too- reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves”. In this quote, she is encouraging men to understand why this worldwide issue is so important, instead of strictly “man- hating” and pointing fingers. Her viral speech is still continuously shared on various social media sites, and receiving mostly positive, respectful feedback.

Emma Watson UN Speech- YouTube 2014

As sexism is an issue that every individual would argue is unacceptable, and should be paid more attention to, I believe there are right and wrong ways to do so. Most media consumers may have opened the FCKH8 video upon viewing numerous controversial posts online, curious as to what one of the latest campaign involves. Little girls dressed in pink princess costumes yelling curse words may seem comedic as an initial reaction, which may be the fault for why it was passed on and shared so many times. However, this debatably “funny” video exploits innocent children whom most likely weren’t even informed of the definitions of the words they were ordered to say. While the producers of this campaign may have sought to attract society on a serious issue from a comedic standpoint, they appear to have done the opposite for those who judged a book by more than just it’s cover. Personally, I found this viral video as offensive, wrong, inappropriate and sad. I believe these young individuals may have parents whom feel strongly about sexism, whether they feel they are victims or not, and saw no harm in providing their children as actors for the campaign. However, respect is a major issue in feminine equality. How are people supposed to react positively, respect and alter their outlook on sexism while watching girls use such foul language, especially at such a young age? I believe the FCKH8 campaign chose the wrong route in a movement against sexism, as most of the results were opposite of what they had sought for.

In this post, I recognized two dramatically different campaign positions: the FCKH8, “F- Bombs for Feminism” and the HeForShe campaign speech for the UN. The FCKH8 video involved exploited, young, pink and glitter- dressed princesses cursing in order to shock society on the unfortunate issue of sexism, and Emma Watson, famously known for acting in the Harry Potter films spoke for United Nations in stance for the HeForShe campaign against the same issue. While both campaigns involved the same desire for improvement in equal rights amongst men and women, they had contrastingly different approaches towards doing so. FCKH8 had hopes of gaining attracting to the issue with their level of shock value in their audience, while HeForShe was able to successfully bring in positive world- wide feedback in a simple speech through a speech by an appropriate dressed, respected young actress. 

FCKH8.com 2014

HeForShe.org 2014

Today, with technology at the most improved and impressive it has ever been, media is our main source of information, and once something goes viral, it is automatically spread among various media entities for the world to see.  Campaigns are typically designed in order to gain awareness on important issues, and should be created to target a wide range of audiences, therefore, the content should be anything but offensive or controversial. I encourage campaigns on the wide range of unfortunate issues our society face today whether it be sexism, rape, bullying, cancer, obesity, etc. to use an alternate approach that doesn’t exploit children or offend media consumers. 

Bibliography

Duca, Lauren. "Emma Watson Fights For Gender Equality With Powerful UN Speech." Huffington Post Entertainment. N.p., 21 Sept. 2014. Web.

"FCKH8.com." FCKH8.com. Shopify, 2014. Web.

Greenfield, Beth. "Little Girls Dropping F-Bombs for Feminism Stirs Controversy." Yahoo Parenting. N.p., 23 Oct. 2014. Web.

Opelka, Mike. "Video of Little Girls Dropping ‘F-Bombs for Feminism’ Causes a Stir."

"Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism by FCKH8.com." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Oct. 2014. Web.

The Blaze. N.p., 22 Oct. 2014. Web.