Girls Gone Wild (franchise)
The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joe Francis, is a video series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc., which is headquartered in Santa Monica, California.[1]
Content
The first GGW film was released in 1998.[1] The films center around sexual activity, and always conform to the same formula.[2] Girls Gone Wild videos usually involve a camera crew patrolling an area frequented by young attractive women, such as a spring break or Mardi Gras vacation resort, or nightclubs.[2] The crew search for attractive young women who agree to expose their bodies for the camera, in exchange for a Girls Gone Wild branded t-shirt, shorts or cap.[1][2] Usually the girls are encouraged to strip by crowds of onlooking young men.[2] Women usually kiss each other and expose their breasts, buttocks, and/or vagina,[2] and sometimes the camera crew follows a group of young females back to the GGW "tour bus",[1] a hotel or other location, and tapes them engaging in additional sexual activities. If they touch their breasts or genitals or another person's, it is considered pornography, under U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 2257 and is regulated, as such. The company claims to only film amateurs, rather than professional porn stars.[2] The camera crews are normally young attractive men, in order to encourage the girls,[1] and they receive a bonus for filming particularly attractive women,[2] or girls who have just turned 18.[1] Francis appears as the host of some of the films.[1] Nightclub promoters pay up to $10,000 a night to host GGW film crews, as they ensure large crowds.[1]c suckass
Business
The films are frequently advertised on late-night television infomercials.[1][2] GGW subscribers purchase 3 videos per month for $9.99 each while tapes sold to occasional customers cost $19.99 each.[2] The millions of films sold every year generate approximately $40 million in annual sales,[1] and Francis is thought to earn around $5 million a year from the series.[2] As of 2004 the company was planning to launch a GGW themed clothing line, a compilation music CD and a restaurant chain.[2]
Legal status
In some states in the U.S., exposing oneself in a public area is a criminal offense defined by state law as indecent exposure, public nudity, or sexual misconduct, etc. One notable exception is New York, where the Court of Appeals held in 1992 that the state constitution's equal protection provision allows women to go topless in any public area where men also have that right.[3] Whereas toplessness in itself may not be grounds for arrest, many of the women featured in Girls Gone Wild commit other acts in public that may be considered lewd and therefore culpable to criminal prosecution.
In response to lawsuits, GGW has argued that women who expose themselves in this manner have no expectation of privacy[4][dead link] The company usually gets women to sign consent forms or give verbal consent with cameras rolling - but not always.[5] In 2010 a Missouri women lost a lawsuit against Mantra Films when a jury found she gave "implied consent" even though her breasts were exposed against her will and she did not sign a consent form.[5]
Legal action
On December 16, 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Mantra Films, Inc., and its sole officer and director Joseph R. Francis, seeking civil penalties for violations of previous Commission determinations concerning unfair and deceptive acts or practices and consumer redress. Violations of previous FTC determinations that an act or practice is unfair or deceptive and unlawful carry a civil penalty of up to $11,000 per violation. The Commission’s complaint alleged that since December 2000, Mantra and Francis had deceptively marketed Girls Gone Wild videos and DVDs to consumers, automatically shipped these unordered videos and DVDs to consumers and charged consumers for them without consumers’ consent.[6]
On July 30, 2004, the FTC announced a stipulated court order under which the sellers of "Girls Gone Wild" DVDs and videos would pay nearly $1.1 million as combined consumer redress and a civil penalty and would be barred from a wide range of activities detailed in a complaint the Department of Justice filed on behalf of the FTC in late 2003. According to the FTC, the defendants marketed "Girls Gone Wild" DVDs and videos as part of continuity programs that resulted in monthly shipments of DVDs or videos to consumers who did not agree to receive them.[7]
On September 12, 2006, Francis pled guilty[8] to federal charges of failing to document the ages of young women engaging in sexual acts in the videos, as federal law requires. There was a plea agreement,[9] part of which required Francis to pay $2.1 million: a $500,000 fine and $1.6 million in restitution. [10] A 2006 episode of Law & Order explored some of the controversy with Girls Gone Wild, using a fictional organization with similar practices.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Mantra Films had been sentenced to pay $1.6 million in criminal fines in December 13, 2006, due to a failure to create and maintain age and identity records for films it produced, and that the “package agreement” between the government and Mantra Films, MRA Holdings, LLC, and Joe Francis required a public acknowledgment of criminal wrongdoing, a pledge of cooperation with the government in future investigations, full compliance with record-keeping laws, and payment of a total of $2.1 million in fines and restitution.[11][12]
On January 22, 2007, Francis was scheduled to be sentenced on similar offenses in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.[13] Under a three-year deferred prosecution agreement, MRA Holdings, LLC, is to employ an independent outside monitor to ensure that the company complies with federal laws.[14] In January 2007, Circuit Judge Dedee Costello in Pensacola, Florida dropped most of the charges against Francis,[15] claiming that "the evidence did not support the allegations..." The remaining felony counts, however, charged that Francis and the company used and conspired to use minors in sexual performances, charges which carried a combined maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. Two misdemeanor counts which also remained charged Francis and the company with prostitution.[16]
Ashley Dupré
On March 19, 2008, Girls Gone Wild offered video of Ashley Dupré, the call girl connected with the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, on its website, which the company had discovered in its archives.[17] Dupré's lawyer said that Dupré was only 17 at the time the footage was taken.[18] "All nude images of Ms. Dupré were taken in public places and contain no sexual contact. In Florida, where Ms. Dupré was filmed, the law allows even women under the age of 18 to be filmed nude with their consent", company founder Francis said.[19]
On April 28, 2008, Ashley Dupré filed a $10 million civil suit[20] against Joe Francis and three other defendants accusing them of unjust enrichment, federal trademark violations under the Lanham Act, false advertising and unjust enrichment under Florida state law. She decided to drop the suit in July 2008 [21] after Francis released footage showing her agreeing to be filmed.[22]
Parodies
- A parody of Girls Gone Wild was featured in the show Arrested Development, titled "Girls with Low Self Esteem". This was a recurring reference for Spring Break episodes.
- A Chappelle's Show skit features a parody "Third World Girls Gone Wild".
- The show CSI once featured a parody called Chicks Gone Nuts.
- A parody titled Homer Gone Wild was featured in The Simpsons episode "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife". There was also a DVD release of four episodes of the show called The Simpsons Gone Wild.
- The Big Gay Sketch Show featured a sketch called "Girls Gone Wilde" (with an E), in which "Oscar Wilde" advertises his new video featuring "witticisms and titticisms."
- In the Stroker and Hoop episode "XXX Wife", the detectives pose as cameramen for Gals Gone Wild. It is revealed that the actors appearing in the films are actually hypnotized into doing so. Judd Winner, the mogul behind the project, explains this with, "What did you think? TV turned an entire generation of girls into sleazy whores? That we normalized promiscuous behavior to the point where college chicks would get naked for millions of masturbating men for the price of a trucker's hat? C'mon guys! Of course it's hypnosis!"
- On a season 7 episode of MADtv, a sketch parodies the GGW franchise as a Barbie doll commercial, entitled Girls Gone Wild Barbie. It highlighted many themes of the franchise, such as a scene at the Mardi Gras and a wet T-shirt contest.
- On a season 8 episode of MADtv that first aired on February 1, 2003, a sketch features a parody of the commercial series called "Boys Gone Wild", where college boys bare it all for the commercial with censor bars over their chests.
- In Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, Jeff mentions that (after his performance in Ft. Lauderdale Florida) that is where they tape the most of the Girls Gone Wild DVDs. His puppet Walter later comments on how that is only during spring break and that "the rest of the time it's Girls Gone Saggy, then Girls Gone Senile, and then it's just Girls Gone."
- In the game Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, there is a newscast that interrupted the regularly scheduled programming "Retirement Home Girls Gone Wild".
- The movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno has a reference to the site and Joe Francis, where Zack claims that even an idiot like Joe Francis could make money in porn.
- An episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from the earlys 00s featured a man watching Girls Gone Wild going wild. The video was called "Guys Watching Girls Gone Wild Gone Wild". The man was shown going wild and lifting up his shirt, causing his nipples to be blacked out.
- The movie American Virgin had a company called Chicks Gone Crazy, spoofing Girls Gone Wild.
- In an episode of Punk'd, Ashton Kutcher pranked Tyra Banks making her think she was going to be on the show when she did not want to be.
- In the video game Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal it is mentioned as "Amoeboid's Gone Wild" during a Tyhrranoid conversation.
List of films
| Title | No. volumes | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Girls Gone Wild | 1 | 1999 |
| Girls Gone Wild: All New College Girls Exposed | 6 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: All New Dormroom Fantasies | 2 | 2005, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: America Uncovered with Doug Stanhope | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Baby Bash Live and Uncensored Tour | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Bad Girls | 2 | 2005, 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Beach Babes | 3 | 2002–2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Beach Babes Heatwave | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Beach Babes Sundowner | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Before They Were Stars | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Behind Closed Doors | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best Breasts Ever | 2 | 2006, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best Breasts in America | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best Breasts on Campus | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Blondes | 2 | 2006, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Endless Spring Break | 4 | 2005–2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Girl Power | 4 | 2005–2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Girls on Girls | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Horny Schoolgirls | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Mardi Gras | 2 | 2000, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of On Tour | 4 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Sex in Sin City | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Sex Starved College Girls | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Spring Break | 2 | 2000, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Best of Ultimate Spring Break | 2 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Blonde on Blonde | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild Presents Bubba Sparxxx Charmed Life Tour | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Bubba Sparxxx XXX Tour | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Celebrity Look-A-Likes | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Coed Sex Tryouts | 3 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: College Co-Eds | 1 | 2000 |
| Girls Gone Wild: College Girls Exposed | 2 | 2000 |
| Girls Gone Wild: College Spring Break | 1 | 1999 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Craziest Frat Parties | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Daddy's Little Girls | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Divas of Daytona | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Doggy Style (hosted by Snoop Dogg)[2] | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Dormroom Confessions | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Dormroom Fantasies | 9 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Endless Spring Break | 14 | 2003–2004 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme | 4 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme Orgy | 3 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme Sex | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme Sex - Secret Tapes | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme Sex - Teen Dreams | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Extreme Spring Break | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Fan Favorites | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Finally 18! | 3 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Finger Me | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: First Timers | 3 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Forbidden Spring Break | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Freshman Class | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Freshman Orientation | 4 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Freshman Sex Orientation | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Funkin' at Freaknik | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Games | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girl Power - Crazy | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girl Power - Honeyz | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girl Power - Let Loose | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girl Power - Spice | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girl Power | 12 | 2004 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls, Girls, Girls! | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls On Girls | 2 | 2007, 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls Who Crave Girls | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls Who Crave Sex | 3 | 2008–2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls Who Like Girls | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Girls Who Love Girls | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Halftime Games | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Cheerleaders | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls | 7 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - All Girl Sleep Over | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Dormroom Secrets | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Freshman Sex | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Orgy Party | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Private Tapes | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Sex Addicts | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Schoolgirls - Sorority Sex Secrets | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Horny Texas Coeds | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hot & Horny Schoolgirls | 6 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest California Girls | 1 | 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Dormroom Confessions | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest First Timers | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Girl in America | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Moments Ever | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Hottest Texas Coeds | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Island Orgy | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Mardi Gras 2k# | 4 | 2001–2004 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Mardi Gras Invasion | 1 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Mardi Gras Madness | 1 | 1999 |
| Girls Gone Wild: My 18th Birthday | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Naked College Girls | 1 | 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: New College Girls Exposed | 2 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: On Campus | 3 | 2000, 2003, 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: On Tour | 8 | 2003 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Private Sex Tapes | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Road Trip | 1 | 2003 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Rocks | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Rocks America | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sexes Up Las Vegas | 2 | 2006, 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sexiest Moments Ever | 2 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex In Sin City | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Games | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Mad Students | 2 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Race | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Bad Girls | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved College Girls | 10 | 2005 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Hot & Horny Schoolgirls | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Panty Raid | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Pleasure Seekers | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Sophomore Sweethearts | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Sorority Sisters | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sex Starved Young & Horny | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sexy Sorority Sweethearts | 2 | 2000 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sexy Spinners | 1 | 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sorority Girl Orgy | 4 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break | 6 | 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Extreme | 1 | 2000 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break First Timers | 1 | 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Orgy | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Sex Party | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Sex Riot | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Virgins | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Sweet Young Sex Maniacs | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: The Best of Extreme | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: The Hottest Girl in America | 4 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: The Perfect Pair | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: The Seized Video | 1 | 2003 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Top 10 Hottest Girls | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Top 10 Must-See Moments | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Top 50 Best Breasts Ever | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Top 50 Best Butts Ever | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Totally Exposed, Uncensored and Beyond | 12 | 2000 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate Rush | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate Sex Rush | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate Spring Break | 8 | 2002–2003 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Vegas Style | 1 | 2008 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Very Bad Girls | 2 | 2008, 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Very Horny Girls | 1 | 2010 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wet T-Shirt Strip Off | 1 | 2002 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wild World | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Bar in America | 1 | 2007 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest College Coeds | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Girls | 1 | |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Nights Ever | 1 | 2009 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Sex | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Sex Ever | 1 | 2006 |
| Girls Gone Wild: Wildest Spring Break Moments | 1 | 2008 |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Baby, Give Me a Kiss" from Los Angeles Times
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Dispatches from Girls Gone Wild" at Slate Magazine
- ^ NY v Santorelli
- ^ Wild Thing: Inside the "Girls Gone Wild" empire
- ^ a b http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_30865bcc-95eb-11df-9734-00127992bc8b.html
- ^ Sellers of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Videos Charged with Deceptive Practices
- ^ Sellers of ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Videos to Pay $1.1 Million to Settle Charges of Unauthorized Shipping and Billing.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=2723150&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
- ^ ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Company Sentenced to Pay $1.6 Million in Fines in Sexual Exploitation Case
- ^ "Girls Gone Wild" producer given community service
- ^ ‘Girls Gone Wild’ Sentenced to Pay $1.6 Million
- ^ Deferred Prosecution Agreement, Stipulation of Fact, Public Statement of Joseph Francis, and Films Subject to the Agreement
- ^ Associated Press, January 5, 2007" Judge Drops Most Charges Against 'Girls Gone Wild' Producer Joe Francis"
- ^ http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/01-05-2007/d4a3000f070c0a8e.html
- ^ Associated Press. "Spitzer escort's 'Girls Gone Wild' videos surface". CNN.com. Retrieved 2008-03-18. [dead link]
- ^ TMZ (2008-03-19). "Ashley Dupre Gone "Wild" -- Legal or Jailbait?". Retrieved 2008-03-19.
- ^ Photos show woman identified as Ashley Dupre at 'Girls Gone Wild' party, Orlando Sentinel, 19 March 2008.
- ^ Spitzer Call Girl Ashley Alexandra Dupre sues Girls Gone Wild
- ^ Call girl in Spitzer case drops Gone Wild suit, Reuters, 3 July 2008.
- ^ Lia Haberman (2007-10-15). "The Hum: Joe Francis Off the Hook". E! Online. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
External links
- Official website
- CTV.ca Groups protest 'Girls Gone Wild Canada' tour
- Exploitative Videos: Bumfights & Girls Gone Wild from the Business Ethics Blog
- Girls Gone Wild at IMDb