Girls Gone Wild Media Man Australia

Girls Gone Wild

Media Man Australia Feature Profiles

The Girls Gone Wild franchise, created by Joseph R. Francis, is a series by the production company Mantra Films, Inc. Girls Gone Wild videos usually involve a camera crew patrolling a party-heavy area frequented by young adults in search of attractive young women who agree to expose their bodies for the camera, usually in exchange for a tank top and sometimes short pants. This involves exposure of breasts and/or buttocks and genitals, sometimes further removal of clothing, and sometimes the camera crew following a group of girls back to a hotel or other location and taping them engaging in additional sexual activities/intercourse.

Background

The videos have themes such as Girls Gone Wild: Ultimate Spring Break or Girls Gone Wild: Sexy Sorority Sweethearts and are marketed to young adult men[citation needed]. They are chiefly sold via television mail order and are frequently advertised on late-night television infomercials, with a brief "warning" message as a disclaimer before the commercial begins.

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 lewdness, 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. However, toplessness in itself is not protection against arrest; it is possible for women to be arrested for violating other criminal statues while topless, and many of the women featured in Girls Gone Wild commit other acts in public that could be cause for arrest.

Women who expose themselves in this manner have no expectation of privacy; moreover, GGW staff members claim they get every flasher to sign a model release. The legal effect of these factors has resulted in a waiver of some women and girls' rights to bring a lawsuit against GGW. Girls Gone Wild was recently cited as an example of "sexualization" (number 23) on USA Today's list of the "25 Trends that Changed America".

Legal action

The franchise has become so successful in recent years that several knockoff videos emerged bearing the "Girls Gone Wild" name. These videos lack any other apparent connection to the franchise; for instance, they lack the typical stylized intro and on-camera narration from the show's producers, and contain no end credits of any kind—thus, they also do not contain the Mantra Entertainment logo. These particular videos have crews that will patrol the festivals in locations such as Mardi Gras or Las Vegas claiming to be affiliated with Girls Gone Wild, even distributing convincing Girls Gone Wild t-shirts. Videos compiled from the use of this technique have been released, at least via the Internet. Also Wild Party Girls and several other knockoffs have used the Girls Gone Wild formula with only minor aesthetic changes.

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 Commission 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 alleges that since December 2000, Mantra and Francis 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.

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 will be barred from a wide range of activities detailed in a complaint the U.S. 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.

On September 12, 2006, Joe Francis, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mantra Films Inc., pleaded guilty 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, part of which required Francis to pay $2.1 million: a $500,000 fine and $1.6 million in restitution. A 2006 episode of Law & Order explored some of the controversy with Girls Gone Wild, using a fictional organization with similar practices.

On December 13, 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Mantra Films had been sentenced to pay $1.6 million in criminal fines for failing 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 the record keeping laws, and payment of a total of $2.1 million in fines and restitution.

Joseph Francis, founder and CEO of both Mantra Films and MRA Holdings, LLC, was scheduled to be sentenced on similar offenses in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on January 22, 2007. 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. In January 2007, Circuit Judge Dedee Costello in Pensacola, Florida dropped most of the charges against Francis claiming that "the evidence did not support the allegations..." However, the remaining felony counts charge that Francis and the company used and conspired to use minors in sexual performances, charges which carry a combined maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. Two misdemeanor counts which also remain charge Francis and the company with prostitution. (Credit: wikipedia).

Profiles

Adult Media

Mobile Babes