F-Bombs for Feminism: Shocking New Ad Shows Kids Cursing; Gets Yanked From YouTube - 'F-Word Is Not A Sin' Says Company
A provocative new ad by T-shirt company FCKH8, that features kids cursing in the name of feminism, has been yanked from social network site YouTube, and the company hit back at criticism today.
In the ad, entitled "F-Bombs For Feminism: Potty-Mouth Princesses Use Bad Word for Good Cause," five young girls (ages 6 -13) are featured wearing princess costumes and cursing while protesting sexism. They are seen angrily mouthing off about gender inequality and one even casually flips the bird to the camera for shock value.
"What is more offensive? A little girl saying f--- or the f------ unequal and sexist way society treats girls and women?" the girls ask in the 2:35minute clip.
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FCKH8 is known for making shirts that promote LGBT rights and celebrity fans include Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Lynch and Neil Patrick Harris.
On Wednesday social networking sites YouTube and Vimeo reportedly pulled the video, which some critics blasted as "vulgar" and "exploitative."
Luke Montgomery, spokesperson at FCKH8, attributed this criticism to "people's stupidity" because in his opinion the f-word "doesn't hurt anybody."
"The word F--- is just impolite. That's it. It doesn't hurt anybody. It's not a crime, it's not a sin. It's just a word that is at most slightly impolite," Montgomery told the Christian Post exclusively.
The ad is designed to raise awareness about inequality and to crush gender stereotypes by addressing various issues such as pay inequality and sexual assault, according to FCKH8. It is also supposed to promote FCKH8's new Anti-Sexism shirt collection.
While some critics applauded FCKH8 for taking a stand against sexism, others slammed the company's shock value approach. While YouTube yanked the video, Montgomery says it will be back up on the popular social networking site eventually.
"I think it's absurd. I think it speaks to people's stupidity," he said of the growing complaints. "The video has already been seen by millions and it'll be back up so the video is doing exactly what it's supposed to do – start a conversation."
At one point a young boy is also seen dressed in a princess gown and he takes issue with the sexist way women are often viewed in society.
Critics took to Twitter to blast the ad's content and Montgomery says they are all missing the point.
"... This is what's alarming, society's not up in arms about the fact that women have to be afraid to walk to their cars at night and that 1 out of 5 women will be raped or sexually assaulted," he said. "People are more upset about a girl using the word f---, that's the entire point of the video is that people have a bigger reaction to the F-word than they do to women being paid 23 percent less than men for doing the same work. It's a bizarre set of priorities."
