Fans say a promo video for a soccer team reminds them of patriarchal, misogynistic Baywatch.
A soccer team removed a promotional video of three female fans cheering during a game at BC Stadium in Vancouver after some fans complained that slow motion is sexist.
Feminist critics claim the video objectifies women because it uses slow motion, and television show Baywatch also used slow motion, and since Baywatch was misogynistic, the video is misogynistic, too. (Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson was discovered at BC Stadium 25 years ago, according to the Vancouver Sun.)
Three college professors told the Regina Leader-Post that the ad — which shows three fans of Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps cheering — uses women’s bodies “as a palette” just as Baywatch did, and that this could “alienate a lot of women.” (None of the fans are wearing swimsuits. The most revealing garment is a sporty tank top.)
The 17-second video was part of a larger video campaign.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zs8UNAjYP8s
“It was never our intention to offend anybody,” Whitecaps president Bobby Lenarduzzi said Wednesday, announcing the cancellation of the clip. “It was just one of a series of eight videos we are using to promote our upcoming season-ticket campaign. The fact that because there were people offended, we just thought the right thing to do was to pull it.”
All three women featured in the video have said they are confused as to how it could have possibly been construed as offensive.
One of the women, Emily Guedes, said she wasn’t just OK with the video — she was offended that it was taken down.
“What’s misogynistic is the fact that men are in the videos . . . but not a couple of women,” she said.
“I’m am not offended by the video but adamantly offended by their removal of it.”
The video was posted on the team’s YouTube and Instagram accounts on Wednesday, but removed hours later.
— Katherine Timpf is a reporter at National Review Online.