Alpha Phi Video Criticized As “Aesthetically Homogenous,” Removed By Sorority

The University of Alabama chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority gained national attention and intense criticism for the superficial nature of its latest recruiting video. The video reached 500,000 views on YouTube in the first week before the sorority removed it. The majority of the controversy stems from the lack of diversity among the girls; they are all blonde, white, and all are dressed in clothes that are nearly uniform. None of the girls are participating in any activities that define them by their intelligence or individuality. But many have argued that there is nothing wrong with the video at all, and that it is standard for sorority recruiting videos.

The backlash all began with one online news editors op-ed piece, and it all seemed to spiral from there. A.L. Bailey of AL.com calls the video ” worse for women than Donald Trump” and in the text “It’s all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition. It’s all so … unempowering.”

Not many people have seen a significant amount of sorority recruitment videos to know that they are about two to four minutes of girls dressing up and dancing to EDM (electronic dance music) while representing their schools. Is it a fair to accuse them of objectifying themselves, or even racism? Alpha Phi at other universities have made similar videos that were not received so poorly, and it is not uncommon for sororities to oversell the physical qualities of their chapter to gain membership.

Could it be bad timing? Donald Trump has recently been criticized for his comments about Fox News broadcaster Megyn Kelly, calling her a “bimbo.” He went on to make other misogynistic comments. It is possible that the political climate could be responsible for the widespread panic over the recent video.

Since the backlash, Alpha Phi has removed the video from their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages. The original video was also removed from YouTube.