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Virgin Mobile asks kids to strip for charity
Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & Safety, In The News
It guess it sounded like a good idea on paper: a national campaign to collect clothing donations for homeless youth featuring non-homeless, fully-clothed youth. Except for the part where the clothed youth are supposed to take their clothes off. Sponsored by cell-phone company Virgin Mobile and National Network For Youth (NN4Y), the Strip2Clothe campaign asks young people to make a video of themselves stripping and post it online. Clothing companies then donate new clothes based on the number of times the video is viewed.
This strip-tease idea doesn't sit well with some of the organizations the campaign is intended to benefit. Catholic Charities, among other groups, has complained saying the effort is inappropriate and that it exploits young people. Rebecca Lentz, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, is especially horrified because she says that it isn't uncommon for kids who find themselves on the streets to be sexually exploited within days of becoming homeless.
Victoria Wagner, chief executive of NN4Y, says the program is now being re-evaluated. "It's unfortunate it's become so explosive," she said. Unfortunate, indeed, since many of those who are complaining are members of NN4Y and were not informed of the campaign before it kicked off.
To be fair, the rules for video submission stipulate that there is to be no full nudity and the videos I viewed were in no way risque. Like it or not, the campaign appears to be going quite well - the site reports close to 150,000 donations so far.
This strip-tease idea doesn't sit well with some of the organizations the campaign is intended to benefit. Catholic Charities, among other groups, has complained saying the effort is inappropriate and that it exploits young people. Rebecca Lentz, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, is especially horrified because she says that it isn't uncommon for kids who find themselves on the streets to be sexually exploited within days of becoming homeless.
Victoria Wagner, chief executive of NN4Y, says the program is now being re-evaluated. "It's unfortunate it's become so explosive," she said. Unfortunate, indeed, since many of those who are complaining are members of NN4Y and were not informed of the campaign before it kicked off.
To be fair, the rules for video submission stipulate that there is to be no full nudity and the videos I viewed were in no way risque. Like it or not, the campaign appears to be going quite well - the site reports close to 150,000 donations so far.
Racy submission shots: is this how you'd want your kids to "donate?"(click thumbnails to view gallery)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jenni 7-16-2008 @ 3:51PM
"To be fair, the rules for video submission stipulate that there is to be no full nudity..." So it's okay to ask teens to strip as long as they keep their underwear on?
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homes 7-18-2008 @ 1:25AM
its not asking for kids
lthomas09786 7-17-2008 @ 5:33PM
Before I get all riled up and send hate mail to Virgin Mobile, are we 100% sure the facts are straight on this one. I would hate to be made a fool of again like with the Bethany Sanders blog on JC Penney on June 24th.
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videoenz 7-19-2008 @ 1:24AM
actualy there asking anyone to strip they say no full nudity and they are screening the videos
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ged 7-17-2008 @ 9:48PM
Good going Virgin, more material for the pedophiles, Lord knows there are millions of them, I probably even live with one. Teen this and pre-teen that.......The world needs to start over.
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Ruth 7-17-2008 @ 10:27PM
My problem are the "screeners" who's to say THEY aren't pedophiles watching young kids strip, and maybe some of the tapes do contain nudity?
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raiderchick81 7-17-2008 @ 11:01PM
Great...now the pedophiles can get their video fix all in one place! What started out as a great idea turned pretty creepy.....
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MEMORESMARTTHENTHAT 7-18-2008 @ 1:42AM
it was never a good idea to ask children to DISROBE themselves on video..They didn't even try to hide their intentions "STRIP FOR CHARITY??" give me a break!! These people are probably owned by a pedophiliac who gets his kicks off of kiddie porn and heck , now he can spoon feed it to the diverse sickos in the world for a ligitimate cause..it's a sick idea and he needs to be jailed for doing it.
If we'd have done it, we'd be locked up right now! Make these companies liable for the harm that they do in advertisment and we will be watching cleaner TV and stop the madness.
Jo 7-21-2008 @ 11:20PM
"raiderchick81 7-17-2008 @ 11:01PM
Great...now the pedophiles can get their video fix all in one place! What started out as a great idea turned pretty creepy....."
It appears that the ones who came up with this idea are also pedophiles. Birds of a feather....
sldkfj 7-17-2008 @ 11:11PM
Sex offender's dream.
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Pam in Maryland 7-17-2008 @ 11:11PM
Who's crazy hairbrained scheme was this idea? After all the world does to try and teach our youth good moral values someone tries to teach them that it's a good idea for charity? I don't like to see people lose their positions but this person should see the back of the door. I'd be ashamed to have them as an employee if it were my company. I'd be serioiusly concerned what this person's values are.
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ninainindia 7-17-2008 @ 11:22PM
What's with the pedophile paranoia on this site? I don't see any children in those videos, the people look to be at least 16 years old and are not wearing anything less than they would at the pool or at the beach.
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Anonymous 7-18-2008 @ 12:09AM
Paranoia no, reality, yes.
When you can't even trust your preist or teacher anymore because they ARE pedophiles their's a problem.
What normal person would ask a child to strip on camera?.
Virgin could drop some serious $$$ for charity, asking kids to strip is rediculous. Everyone who had something to do with this should be fired.
tigger99021 7-18-2008 @ 12:11AM
Where you born under a rock???? 16 is still a child. How can you say there were no children in those videos? Get your head out of your *** and see this for what it is, exploitation of children for a "good cause". Bull! This was a very bad idea.
ninainindia 7-18-2008 @ 1:56AM
I don't know the numbers but I see people here think that 1 in 5 people is a pedophile and that is just not true. The chance to be hit by a car is probably bigger than meeting a pedophile.
And 16 is not a child, it's a young adult. Most 16 year olds have relationships, are very aware of their sexuality and willingly have sex with their peers. It's naive to view them simply as children.
Jenni 7-18-2008 @ 1:53PM
Willing to have sex with your peers doesn't make you an adult. I know of 13 year olds who are willing to have sex with their peers and are aware of their sexuality. Should I count them as adults too?
ninainindia 7-18-2008 @ 9:58PM
I didn't say adult, I said young adult. It's a term used for teenagers on the brink of adulthood (16-18 years olds).
Have you even looked at the site? There are no children on that site. I said 16 because I didn't want responses from people saying there were sixteen year olds on there when I said they all looked 18 and older to me.
jcall409 7-21-2008 @ 9:50PM
I'm not sure how old you are, but I am a mother of 4 children, ranging from 23 to 8. I love my children dearly and would do anything to protect them. Unfortunately, this world has alot of ugliness in it and most of it is geared toward children and young adults. The reason is that they are the innocent and naive. There are too many reasons to list why we as parents and adults should condenm this so called "fund raising" method, but I want to share with you my reason. This is a very dangerous view to have for our youth. Stripping is what it is and nothing else. It is to used to intice a sexual response. These young people will end up on some horid website with all the other exploided youth. If they knew who was actually looking at them and for what, it would make their skin crawl. They are our future and if we keep looking at them as a thing and not a human being who deserves respect and honor, we will continue to fall as a society and in the long run we will all feel the pain of failure and regret. May God Bless us.
tigger99021 7-18-2008 @ 12:06AM
Virgin Mobile needs to have their collective asses kicked for this idea. Talk about child abuse. I can't believe they are condoning this type of campaign to have kids strip. What a bunch of idiots. Pedophiles of the world rejoice because Virgin Mobile has just handed you a whole lot of material. Too bad there's not a crime for pure stupidity. Of course, they should be charged anyway with even suggesting kids strip for anything, especially charity. Do they honestly think these videos are safe????? How stupid. Sorry to keep going back to the stupidity part, but they are in the communication business and should know NOTHING is safe from a hacker.
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Sean 7-18-2008 @ 12:09AM
Virgin Mobile's idea has to be the stupidest thing around. I mean, HUH? What are they hoping to gain by doing this....isn't this violating privacy that these kids supposedly have? Very Very stupid. Why can't Virgin Mobile donate phones to Africa where people are struggling to eat and maybe they can teach them how to use phones to acquire food. COME ON!!
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