Overview
The University of Alabama Sorority Recruitment Video refers to a promotional video produced by the Alpha Phi sorority to recruit pledges at the University of Alabama. After the video began circulating online in August 2015, many criticized the sorority for appearing racially homogeneous and claimed they were promoting the objectification of women.
Background
In early August 2015, the Alpha Phi sorority at the University of Alabama released a recruitment video featuring footage of members socializing on campus, playing football, wearing bathing suits by a pond and dancing to electronic dance music (shown below). On August 11th, the Silly Tricks YouTube channel reuploaded the video, which gained over 1.28 million views in the first week.
On August 14th, the Alabama news site AL.com[1] published an article titled “Bama sorority video worse for women than Donald Trump,” which criticized the video for being racially homogeneous and objectifying to women, while comparing it to sexually explicit productions by Playboy and Girls Gone Wild.
No, it’s not a slick Playboy Playmate or Girls Gone Wild video. It’s a sorority recruiting tool gaining on 500,000 views in its first week on YouTube. It’s a parade of white girls and blonde hair dye, coordinated clothing, bikinis and daisy dukes, glitter and kisses, bouncing bodies, euphoric hand-holding and hugging, gratuitous booty shots, and matching aviator sunglasses. It’s all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition. It’s all so … unempowering.
Notable Developments
Alpha Phi’s Response
By August 16th, Alpha Phi deleted the video from YouTube and took down their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr[7] pages.
University of Alabama’s Response
Also on August 16th, the University of Alabama administration released a statement condemning the recruitment video:
“This video is not reflective of UA’s expectations for student organizations to be responsible digital citizens. It is important for student organizations to remember what is posted on social media makes a difference, today and tomorrow, on how they are viewed and perceived.”[3]
Online Reaction
On August 17th, the AL.com article was submitted to the /r/frat[2] subreddit, where the top comment described the controversy as “absurd.” The same day, Redditor LikeASharkLovesBlood posted the video to /r/videos,[6] where many of the top comments expressed confusion about why the video was controversial. Meanwhile, many mocked the video on Twitter,[10][11] noting that the majority of the women were White with blonde hair (shown below).
Also on August 17th, the Funny or Die Vine channel uploaded an edited clip from the video featuring superimposed still images of celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and the Black Stormtrooper (shown below).
Additionally, the @CharmOfTheSouth[9] Twitter feed posted a sarcastic tweet scolding Alpha Phi for being so “good looking” and offending “ugly girls” (shown below, left). On August 18th, Twitter user @Cliff_Sims[8] tweeted a composite photoshopped image featuring women from the Alpha Phi sorority, Donald Trump, the Confederate flag and Cecil the Lion, describing it as “the most offensive picture on the Internet” (shown below, right).
Director’s Response
On August 18th, The Hollywood Reporter[5] published an interview with University of Alabama student and director of the recruitment video Griffin Meyer, who revealed he was largely inspired by a recruitment video for the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at the University of Arizona.[4] In a statement published by USA Today[3] the same day, Meyer defended his video, saying “It’s kind of sad girls can’t play fake football or be in a bikini without the judgement of the entire Internet.”
News Media Coverage
In the coming days, several news sites published articles about the online backlash to the recruitment video, including USA Today,[3] Time,[12]ABC News,[13] US Weekly,[14] Today, [15] Jezebel[16] and The Daily Mail.[17]
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1]AL.com – Bama sorority video worse for women than Donald Trump
[2]Reddit – U of Alabama sorority criticized for racially homogeneous recruitment video
[3]USA Today – U of Alabama sorority criticized for recruitment video
[4]YouTuber – Kappa Alpha Theta – University of Arizona 2015
[5]Hollywood Reporter – Alabama Sorority Video Director Defends All-White All Blonde Glitter Blowing Pageantry
[6]Reddit – University of Alabama Sorority Pulls Recruiting Video Following Online Backlash
[7]Tumblr – alphaphialabama
[8]Twitter – Cliff_Sims
[9]Twitter – @CharmOfTheSouth
[10]Twitter – ohjanabelle
[11]Twitter – shakespearestoe
[12]Time – Alabama Sorority Video
[13]ABC News – Alabama Sorority Alpha Phi Yanks Recruitment Video After Internet Uproar
[14]US Weekly – University of Alabamas Alpha Phi Sorority Slammed for Lack of Diversity
[15]Today – University of Alabama Alpha Phi sorority criticized for recruitment video
[16]Jezebel – University of Alabama Sorority Delete Viral Recruitment Video After Backlash
[17]The Daily Mail – University of Alabama sorority DELETES racially homogeneous recruitment video