FCKH8 is a for-profit company that was founded in 2010 and sells T-shirts and accessories featuring slogans with a social justice theme. [1] The company has released several media marketing campaigns to accompany sales of their products, some of which have been the focus of criticism. [2] [3] FCKH8 has responded to this criticism by stating that their T-shirts could help spread awareness and spark conversations about the causes. [4]
FCKH8 has had several campaigns and products that center upon LGBT issues, such as a video aimed at Chick-fil-A's same-sex marriage controversy. [5] [6] In 2013 FCKH8 announced their intent to mail out 10,000 copies of the coloring book Misha & His Moms Go to the Olympics to Russian families in response to the then recently passed Russian gay propaganda law. [7] [8] The plan was met with concern from some social media users, who stated that possession of the books would put the families at risk of legal and physical harm. [9]
FCKH8's celebrity ally campaigns have been dismissed as shallow and opportunistic. [10] A popular Internet meme consists of a FCKH8 ad manipulated to quote Jennifer Lawrence saying "Gay rights!", parodying the low bar set for straight people to profit from LGBT activism. [11]
In September 2014 FCKH8 released a video entitled Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by #Ferguson Kids, which featured children from Ferguson wearing T-shirts created by the company while reading racism statistics and commenting upon stereotypes. [12] The video ended with the mention that interested parties could purchase T-shirts from FCKH8 and that part of the proceeds would be donated to five anti-racism causes. [13] The online magazine ColorLines heavily criticized the video, as they felt that FCKH8 was using racism as a marketing tool to sell T-shirts. [14] FCKH8 responded to ColorLines by claiming that they were "creating controversy", criticizing their post as clickbait, and requested an apology. [4]
The video has also received some criticism over the compensation the children received in the video and one of the parents stated that her children received about $50 compensation apiece for their performances. [15]
In October 2014 FCKH8 released the video Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism. [16] The video consists of young girls aged six to thirteen talking about gender inequality in society. The children use profanity during the video, in particular the word "fuck". Like the Ferguson video, the video features T-shirts sold by FCKH8 and the statement that $5 from the sale of each shirt will be donated to five related causes.
The video was heavily criticized by media outlets, many of which accused FCKH8 of capitalizing upon feminist values in order to sell T-shirts. [17] The Washington Post remarked that they felt the video was "provoking solely for provocation’s sake" and that the company "has built a veritable empire by throwing the veil of social good over more capitalist ambitions." [18] Due to the reaction to the video Potty-Mouthed Princesses Vimeo and YouTube removed it from their sites, but later reinstated the video. [19]
Other campaigns created by FCKH8 centered around domestic abuse and feminism. [20]
FCKH8 has received criticism for their marketing campaigns, with most respondents criticizing the videos as a way to sell T-shirts. [17] [21] Critics of the company such as the Christian Science Monitor have criticized the campaigns, with the Christian Science Monitor stating that the Potty-Mouthed Princesses campaign "betrays a social media marketing perspective devoid of ethics. The video’s ethos is so steeped in a “Generation Like” mindset that having the video widely “liked” and “shared” is clearly what matters most—resulting in the company’s decision to push girls as young as age six into the roles of cultural provocateurs." [22] FCKH8 also received criticism from the parents of two children featured in the Hey White People video, as she felt her children's compensation was too low when considering the amount of money the company received from T-shirt sales. [15]
The company's campaigns have also received some praise and defense, and a writer for Slate commented that Potty-Mouthed Princesses's effectiveness stemmed from YouTube videos that featured children cursing, as it is "fun to watch girls and boys shatter precious princess tropes and refreshing to see little kids straightforwardly announce the necessity of feminism at a time when grown men and women are still tip-toeing around the word." [23] Some of the parents of children featured in the FCKH8 campaigns have also defended the works, stating that the videos helped raise awareness of sensitive topics. [24]
FCKH8 has responded to the criticisms, stating that their videos are meant to raise awareness for various social causes and spark conversations. [19] They also commented that they felt that the takedown of the Potty-Mouthed Princesses video was censorship and that "This censorship gets to the exact point that the girls in the video are making ... that society finds it more offensive for a girl to say fuck than they do the fact that 1 out 5 women are sexually assaulted and raped." [19] They have also stated that they are unafraid of the backlash from their campaigns, as they feel that the social causes are more important concerns. [25]
They responded to concerns of profiteering with the sale of their anti-racism shirts, claiming that they did not make enough from T-shirt sales to make large profits. [4]
In addition to content criticism, FCKH8 has been widely criticized for non-delivery of items ordered from its website. It has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau for charging customer credit cards immediately and then never delivering the merchandise ordered. [26]
Focus on the Family is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations that rose to prominence in the 1980s. As of the 2017 tax filing year, Focus on the Family declared itself to be a church, "primarily to protect the confidentiality of our donors." Traditionally, entities considered churches have been ones that have regular worship services and congregants.
SpongeBob SquarePants is the protagonist of the American animated television series of the same name. Voiced by Tom Kenny, he is characterized by his optimism and childlike attitude. SpongeBob is commonly seen hanging out with his friend Patrick Star, working at the Krusty Krab, and attending Mrs. Puff's Boating School.
The American Family Association (AFA) is a conservative and Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. It opposes LGBT rights and expression, pornography, and abortion. It also takes a position on a variety of other public policy goals. It was founded in 1977 by Donald Wildmon as the National Federation for Decency and is headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Dove is a hygiene brand owned by the multinational consumer goods company, Unilever.
American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the largest apparel manufacturers and marketers in North America.
The American adult animated sitcom Family Guy has been the target of numerous taste and indecency complaints. The show is known to include offensive jokes including racial humor and violent, gory, and disturbing images.
Luke Montgomery is an American viral commercial director, entrepreneur, media strategist and political activist.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom Modern Family, for which he earned five consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Legalize LA was an activist campaign promoting amnesty for illegal immigrants, propagated through billboards, protests, clothing, advertisements, educational pamphlets, and grass roots support, underwritten by American Apparel. Originating locally in Downtown Los Angeles, the company took the campaign national in early 2008.
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of February 2020, the company operated 854 stores across all brands.
Jezebel is a US-based website featuring news and cultural commentary geared towards women. It was launched in 2007 by Gawker Media under the editorship of Anna Holmes as a feminist counterpoint to traditional women's magazines. After the breakup of Gawker Media, the site was purchased by Univision Communications and later acquired by G/O Media.
Lindy West is an American writer, comedian and activist. She is the author of the essay collection Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. The topics she writes about include feminism, popular culture, and the fat acceptance movement.
"Boston Strong" is a slogan that was created as part of the reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. It is a variation on the term Livestrong, which was created in 2004. Since the phrase became popular it has been frequently placed on various kinds of signage and merchandise. The use of the term in Boston has led to similar phrases entering public discourse, such as America Strong.
Pinkstinks is a campaign founded in London in May 2008 by twin sisters Emma Moore and Abi Moore to raise awareness of what they claim is damage caused by gender stereotyping of children. Pinkstinks claims that the marketing of gender-specific products to young children encourages girls to limit their ambitions later in life.
GoldieBlox is an American toy company that markets interactive toys designed for girls. GoldieBlox, which pairs a construction kit with a storybook, launched in 2012 as a prototype on Kickstarter. Its Kickstarter campaign led to more than $1 million in pre-orders placed in the first month. It went on to sell in retailers including Toys "R" Us and Amazon. None of the original construction kits or storybooks are still sold, with the company shifting its focus to crafting kits for girls.
Teespring is an American company that operates Spring, a social commerce platform that allows people to create and sell custom products. The company was founded in 2011 by Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton in Providence, Rhode Island. By 2014, the company had raised $55 million in venture capital from Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. In 2018 Spring launched its merch shelf integration in partnership with YouTube, enabling creators to sell their products directly below video content, and expanded this business model with similar integrations for Twitch, Instagram, TikTok, etc. in the years following. Over the past few years, Teespring has had to make significant reforms to its safety operations in response to criticism over apparel that promoted violence and racist messaging. In 2019 Chris Lamontagne became CEO of Spring. In 2021, Teespring was rebranded as Spring.
Pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing, is the strategy of promoting LGBT rights protections as evidence of liberalism and democracy, especially to distract from or legitimize violence against other countries or communities. The concept has been used by Sarah Schulman in 2011 with reference to Israeli government public relations, and is related to homonationalism, the exploitation of sexual minorities to justify racism and xenophobia. Pinkwashing is a continuation of the civilizing mission used to justify colonialism, this time on the basis of LGBT rights in Western countries. More broadly, pinkwashing can also be defined as "the deployment of superficially sympathetic messages for [ends] having little or nothing to do with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equality or inclusion", including LGBT marketing.
Concepts of race and sexuality have interacted in various ways in different historical contexts. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race is understood by scientists to be a social construct rather than a biological reality. Human sexuality involves biological, erotic, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors.
Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts have featured hate speech and false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The Twitter account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has over 2 million followers as of March 2023 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.
June Nicole Lapine, known by her online moniker "Shoe0nHead" or simply "Shoe", is an American commentary YouTuber and Twitter influencer. Her videos have ranged over the years from political commentary to discussion of social issues, but tend to be political in nature. Lapine describes herself as a social democrat, although she is often described as populist. She initially rose to fame with her commentary on Gamergate.
