海角大神

Yesterday, for-profit T-shirt company FCKH8.com released a video called 鈥�.鈥� The video features five angry girls, ages 6 to 13, who express outrage at聽society鈥檚 sexist treatment of girls and women while decked out in princess attire.

The video opens with the girls sweetly cooing, 鈥淧retty!鈥� while posing in their聽gowns and tiaras. But three seconds later, they switch gears and shout: 鈥淲hat the [expletive]? I鈥檓 not some pretty [expletive] helpless princess in distress. I鈥檓 pretty [expletive] powerful and ready for success. So what is more offensive? A little girl saying [expletive], or the [expletive] unequal and sexist way society treats girls and women?鈥�

As the video聽progresses, the girls聽review聽the ongoing issues of inequality, systematic discrimination, and聽sexual violence faced by women in the US. They pepper these facts with聽more f-bombs, of course.

This聽combination of pretty pink princesses and relentless聽use of the f-word is potent聽and聽clearly聽calculated to provoke. And provoke it has: For the shock value alone, everybody鈥檚 talking about this video.

But in all the conversation about whether the video is offensive, we need to also consider the ad from a media literate perspective and consider FCKH8鈥檚 corporate interests.Was聽it right聽for the company to script a slew of swear words into an advertisement featuring聽young聽children?

If聽we聽follow the money and consider the company鈥檚聽motivations in producing 鈥淔-Bombs for Feminism,鈥� it鈥檚 can seem pretty clear that FCKH8 is聽in the wrong.聽

Although the video purports to be 鈥渇or [a] good cause鈥濃�攑resumably, to raise聽awareness of sexism鈥攚hat they鈥檙e really promoting is their t-shirts.聽

By putting its bottom line ahead of girls鈥� best interests, the company is聽being exploitative.

In fact, 鈥淔-Bombs for Feminism鈥� betrays a social media marketing perspective devoid of ethics. The video鈥檚 ethos is聽so steeped聽in a聽鈥溾�� mindset聽that having the video聽widely 鈥渓iked鈥� and 鈥渟hared鈥� is clearly what matters most鈥攔esulting in聽the聽company鈥檚聽decision to push聽girls as young as age six into the roles of cultural聽provocateurs.

As a social media marketing strategy, it worked聽brilliantly.聽The video聽went viral almost instantaneously, prompting聽heavy聽traffic to the company鈥檚 website. There,聽t-shirts proclaiming 鈥淭his is what a feminist looks like鈥� and 鈥淕irls just want to have fun-damental rights鈥濃�攁s worn by the women appearing at the video鈥檚 end, of course鈥攁re up for sale.

Sadly, despite what major corporations and indie brands alike would have聽us believe,聽empowerment聽can neither be bottled nor sold. Commodification of feminism is not聽empowerment, and FCKH8 is not empowering girls or women through this video. Instead, they鈥檙e using girls聽as a means to a commercial聽end: to raise awareness of sexism to sell their t-shirts.

I would聽feel聽differently if a聽video along these lines had been produced by girls as a way to find an audience for their authentic voices.聽

But that鈥檚 not the case here. This video was scripted and slickly produced by a t-shirt company that evidently has no qualms about exploiting girls who are too young to understand the implications of the script they鈥檙e bringing to life.

So, my advice is this. Let鈥檚 stop聽debating whether聽we鈥檙e offended by little girls cursing and focus聽on聽the heart of the matter, instead:聽By putting adult words into children鈥檚 mouths, FCKH8 is聽only exploiting girls through its聽advertisement.

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best family and parenting bloggers out there. Our contributing and guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor, and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. Rebecca Hains blogs at聽聽and the original post shared here can be found聽.