Girls Gone Wild (GGW) is an adult entertainment franchise created by
Joe Francis
Joseph R. Francis (born April 1, 1973) is an American entrepreneur, film producer and the founder and creator of the Girls Gone Wild entertainment brand. Francis worked as a production assistant on the syndicated program ''Real TV'' before rele ...
in 1997,
who occasionally appears as the host of the videos.
Girls Gone Wild was known for its early use of
direct-response marketing techniques, including its late-night
infomercials
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
that began airing in 1997.
The videos typically involve camera crews at
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
locations engaging young college-aged women who expose their bodies or act
"wild", especially during
Spring break.
Since 2008, the Girls Gone Wild products have been sold primarily through their website as streaming videos, downloads, and DVDs.
In February 2013, the company filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
.
In 2014, the company was sold to
Bang Bros
Bang Bros (stylized BangBros) is a pornographic film studio operating from Miami, Florida, United States. It was founded in 2000 by Kristopher Hinson while he was a student at the University of Florida. The network is now owned by WGCZ S.R.O. - ...
.
Background
The first Girls Gone Wild film was released in 1997.
In 2001 the company sold 4.5 million videos and DVDs.
By the end of 2002, the company had produced 83 different titles and had begun airing 30-minute infomercials on
E! Entertainment Television,
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...
Net,
BET
Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...
,
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
,
Tech TV
Tech or The Tech may refer to:
* An abbreviation of technology or technician
*Tech Dinghy, an American sailing dinghy developed at MIT
*Tech (mascot), the mascot of Louisiana Tech University, U.S.
* Tech (river), in southern France
* Tech (Smash) ...
,
Style
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to:
* Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable
* Design, the process of creating something
* Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
, and all other major U.S. networks.
The infomercials targeted a late-night channel-surfing demographic that Joe Francis had identified in the late 1990s.
According to
TNS Media Intelligence
Kantar TNS is a global market research and market information group with offices in over 80 countries. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the firm was acquired by WPP Group for £1.6 billion in ...
, Girls Gone Wild spent more than $21 million in advertising in 2003, becoming the largest advertiser for programs on the
E! channel. In 2008, Francis' net worth was approximately $150 million.
Instances of Girls Gone Wild in popular culture include the appearance of
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...
and
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
in the company's videos,
as well as various references and parodies of the show in popular television series and movies.
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
announced in 2002 that it would release a feature-length film based on the Girls Gone Wild concept.
Content
Most Girls Gone Wild videos follow a common formula in which a film crew interacts with a large crowd of people either at a
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
, club, or other event.
Women willingly take off their clothes, engage in sexual activities, or participate in
wet T-shirt contest
A wet T-shirt contest is a competition involving exhibitionism, typically featuring young women contestants at a nightclub, bar, or resort. Wet T-shirt contestants generally wear white or light-colored T-shirts without bras, bikini tops, or ot ...
s.
Compensation for taking part in a Girls Gone Wild video often consists of a free hat, T-shirt, or money.
Occasionally, participants are invited to be filmed on a Girls Gone Wild tour bus.
Distribution channels
At its inception, Girls Gone Wild marketed its product, namely videos, through direct-distribution channels such as
infomercials
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
,
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
, and
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
.
This distribution was followed in 2008 by the launch of a Girls Gone Wild magazine, a clothing line, and a compilation record released on
Jive Records
Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...
.
Girls Gone Wild for Katrina
In September 2005, Girls Gone Wild announced that it would donate all proceeds of
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras (, ) refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. is French for "Fat ...
–themed DVDs and videos to the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
.
Proceeds from the video sales, which included a title featuring
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
, were intended to help the victims of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
.
Guys Gone Wild
In 2004, Girls Gone Wild began soliciting men for participation in their videos.
''Guys Gone Wild'' was a video series and male analogue of ''Girls Gone Wild'' targeted at young women.
These
video tape
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...
s and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
s featured much the same content as the ''Girls'' equivalent, only instead showing young men performing for the camera—e.g., in the shower, playing football naked, etc.
In an article, Bill Horn, spokesman for
Mantra Entertainment
Mantra Films Inc., or Mantra Entertainment, was an American softcore pornography production company created by Joe Francis, chiefly for the production and distribution of the United States-based '' Girls Gone Wild'' and '' Guys Gone Wild'' media ...
which produced the videos, notes a
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...
-related
double standard
A double standard is the application of different sets of principles for situations that are, in principle, the same. It is often used to describe treatment whereby one group is given more latitude than another. A double standard arises when two ...
in these videos. In the ''Girls Gone Wild'' series, sometimes the young women kiss, while the guys' series does not have that feature. Horn explains: "Let's face it, there's a double standard when it comes to guy-on-guy as opposed to
girl-on-girl
Lesbian erotica deals with depictions in the visual arts of lesbianism, which is the expression of female-on-female sexuality. Lesbianism has been a theme in erotic art since at least the time of ancient Rome, and many regard depictions of lesb ...
. It's sexy to see two girls
making out
Making out is a term of American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or heavy kissing of the neck (called ''necking''), or to acts of non-penetrative sex such as heavy petti ...
. It's not considered sexy to see two guys making out. That's just the reality, and, we were there to capture the reality."
The hour-long ''Guys Gone Wild'' productions featured women camera operators who encouraged men to get naked and perform strip teases.
Legal
In 2003, the
U.S. Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
filed a complaint against Girls Gone Wild alleging that the company failed to notify customers when they purchased subscriptions under a continuity program, rather than single DVDs.
In 2004, GGW settled for $1.1 million and agreed to disclose all terms and get consent for recurring charges.
In 2006, Girls Gone Wild marketer
MRA Holdings pleaded guilty to charges for failing to record the ages of its subjects 2002 and 2003.
The parties agreed to pay $2.1 million in restitution and fines.
In 2008,
Ashley Dupré Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
...
filed against Joe Francis and other defendants claiming that they filmed her without consent.
Dupré dropped the suit after Francis released footage of her consent.
In 2008, a Missouri woman claimed that she was filmed without consent when a Girls Gone Wild contractor removed her
halter top at a St. Louis bar.
A jury found that she consented. On re-trial, a judge awarded the woman $5.77 million after the defense failed to show at court.
On appeal, the judge upheld the verdict.
In March 2008, four women claimed that they suffered emotional distress by being shown in Girls Gone Wild film.
In April 2011, an all-female jury declined to award damages to the plaintiffs.
However, in January 2015, Francis agreed to settle a separate 2003 lawsuit which involved allegations of him taping the exposed breasts of underage girls as part of Girls Gone Wild content.
The 2015 civil settlement also involved Francis agreeing to serve 336 days in jail after accepting a
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...
plea to criminal charges of
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...
and
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
.
Bankruptcy
In 2013, GGW Brands LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Accounts from alleged sex victims
An episode of the TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
true crime anthology series '' Rich & Shameless'' called ''Girls Gone Wild Exposed'' aired on TNT on April 23, 2022, and featured accounts from alleged victims of Joe Francis who were employed for Girls Gone Wild.
References
{{Reflist
Nudity in the United States
Mass media franchises
Films about fraternities and sororities
2010s pornographic films
2000s pornographic films
1990s pornographic films
Pornographic film series