Strip2Clothe: Teens Strip Online for Charity

12 Jul 2008

Summary

Virgin Mobile and the National Network 4 Youth (NN4Y) launched a campaign to help clothe homeless youth by asking their subscribers to make videos of themselves stripping. The concept, called Strip2Clothe uses as its slogan "You take off yours, we donate ours."

The idea was that those watching the videos would be motivated to donate. They announced that clothing would be donated to charities based on the number of viewers these videos garnered.

The article notes that “Interesting defensive comments include the fact that no nudity is allowed; the actual views is little different than today's swimsuits and, finally that it is justified since the many, many kids on the street that are homeless are often forced into sex which is much worse than a provocative pose or "dance".”

After huge protests by charities working to fight exploitation and other organizations demanding that their brands be removed from the ad campaign, Virgin changed the campaign to _____2Clothe (as in, fill-in-the-Blank2Clothe). It now encourages participants to share their personal talents or interests instead. Read the article.

Things to think about

That this campaign was ever proposed, let alone saw the light of day, shows a depressing lack of mature leadership at Virgin Mobile.

Even more shocking was the lack of sensitivity shown by NN4Y, an agency that provides shelter, counseling, crisis intervention for youth. It took outraged feedback from participants of the campaign’s ‘test phase’ for NN4Y to recognize the campaign was utterly unacceptable.

In a press statement, NN4Y stated, “During the test phase, our members and others who viewed the videos gave us the clear message that the theme and content were unacceptable. At that time, we declined to officially partner or promote strip2clothe while still offering members who wished to be a beneficiary of the program that opportunity.”

Forced to switch tactics, Virgin’s campaign website belies any deep change of heart. Though the campaign name-change occurred on July 21^st, two weeks later the campaign description that comes up in a search remains unchanged.

Rather than correct the offensive slogan, the company’s designers simply scribbled over the word “Strip”, leaving it clearly discernable. UNZIP ME is still in the design, too.

If Virgin’s tune had truly changed, we could have dismissed it as a simple mistake. But the choice to make only sloppy changes demonstrates the company’s real colors.

Exploitation is never acceptable; marketing it as charitable is despicable. The choice by Virgin Mobile to launch this marketing campaign demonstrates the continued willingness of large Internet corporations to exploit sexuality as a marketing tool. To learn more about this trend, read my blog, Human Trafficking on the Internet.

What you can do

If Virgin Mobile’s unapologetic persistence offends you, let their press contact (jayne.wallace@virginmobileusa.com) hear about it, and encourage others to express their disapproval. If you or family members use Virgin’s services let your wallet talk as well.

Linda