‘This isn’t lingerie football’: Sexist or not, Whitecaps video taken down …

After some fans and Internet commenters cried foul on a new online video promoting the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team, club management quickly cut the clip.

As is often the case in social media and Internet marketing, reaction was varied and the response was swift: some sideline observers, both male and female, called the video clip offside, while others wondered what the problem was.

The Whitecaps removed the video within a matter of hours, but experts said the story — as quickly as it was over — can provide a “teachable moment.�

The clip in question, posted to the web Tuesday as part of a series of similarly-filmed spots aimed at selling season tickets, consists of about 12 seconds of slow-motion footage of a trio of young female fans at a ’Caps game, caught up in the rapture of the beautiful game, cheering and jumping up and down while orchestral music plays in the background.

Social media reaction ranged from “Uhhhhhhhhh yes,� and “I really don’t see a problem here,� on Facebook, to Twitter user“The headline isn’t just“It wasn’t our intent to offend anybody, and the minute that we knew we did, we pulled it down.“

Instead, Lenarduzzi said, the intent of the eight-part ad campaign was to show a wide cross-section of fans supporting the club. No actors or staged scenes appear in the video campaign, and all the footage shows genuine fan reactions at games, Lenarduzzi said. The use of photos and videos of fans is common in sports marketing.

“That’s the premise that we went forward with: they’re real people, they’re fans at our games, and it’s a cross-section of the support that we get,� he said.

Seven other spots from the campaign were viewable on Whitecaps FC season ticket website Wednesday, featuring men, women and kids cheering on the ’Caps, with a tag line promoting “the best sporting atmosphere in Vancouver.�

Lendarduzzi said all eight ads in the series were meant to be presented in the same way — similar slow-motion footage of Whitecaps fans celebrating, with orchestral music over top.

But even though the ad featured real soccer fans, academics consulted by The Province found it problematic.

Lisa Loutzenheiser, associate professor at UBC’s Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, said when she saw the video, one of the first things she thought of was a 2011 Whitecaps ad campaign featuring a woman’s body painted in the team’s colours.

“I thought, I can’t believe they’re doing it again, in light of the fact they caught a lot of direct heat for using a woman’s body as a palette in 2011,� she said.

Loutzenheiser showed the clip to her doctoral level class at UBC Wednesday afternoon and, she said: “Their take on it was there’s no way that you could buy that this was marketing for female fans.�

Rakhi Ruparelia, a law professor from the University of Ottawa, agreed the video, even in the context of the series, seemed less like marketing to female fans, and more like using females for marketing.

“I could see why this would alienate a lot of women,� Ruparelia said.

Janni Aragon of the University of Victoria’s Political Science department said: “It’s almost like I’m watching the ‘Baywatch’ opening.�

Aragon, who identifies as a sports fan, said while this is far from the most egregious example of sexist marketing, she found it “still problematic.�

“This makes me think the creative team maybe needs to go back to the drawing board, but this isn’t lingerie football.�

Ruparelia and Aragon both said different reactions to the video provided a good opportunity for discussion, both for the Whitecaps organization and the public.

“This is a really good teaching moment,â€� said Ruparelia. “I would applaud them for taking the video down. I think that was the right thing to do … maybe, unlike some other sports organizations, (the Whitecaps) will learn from this.â€�

dfumano@theprovince.com

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