Normal, civilized girls are going wild—and some of them are from Minnesota (somebody better tell Fox 9 News). It's spring break 2007 and go time for one of Los Angeles's most nefarious and spineless entrepreneurs.
Joe Francis, the creator of the Girls Gone Wild video series, and his fleet of RVs are on their yearly pilgrimage to tropical destinations to "cajole" young women into taking it all off. It's all good, clean, spring break fun, where Mr. Francis and his Santa Monica–based Mantra Films will take in more than $100 million from the sales of their DVDs this year, and the girls will get a really cool T-shirt and one too many drinks. Free Ts are awesome.
I used to roll my eyes at the GGW franchise for its base behavior and lack of narrative arc (all good storytellers know boobs just don't come out to see the world—they need motivation) and then I read this August Los Angeles Times article on Joe Francis and his GGW operation. The reporter's courage and tenacity is inspiring and, ever since, I haven't watched a GGW television ad without seething disgust. In the article, Francis not only assaults the reporter after she questions him about his recent arrest (in 2006 he was fined $2.1 million for illegal operations), he returns several minutes later and says, "I'm sorry, baby, give me a kiss. Give me a kiss."
I bring this to light not only because of the spring break season, but also because it was reported this week in the Los Angeles Business Journal that Francis, despite a year of bad press, is officially expanding his business beyond DVDs. The article claims he'll soon open adult-oriented restaurants in beach communities before rolling out watering holes in select college towns. In addition, he's pushing his apparel and merchandise harder than ever and hoping for celebrity endorsements. He's even selling a "never-nude" version of GGW entitled Flirt at Walmart.
His thought process is this: Open a bar/restaurant that will attract wild girls, clothe them in your clothing line, and then sell a DVD of them taking off your clothes in your establishment. Pure Disney. From a branding perspective, it's sheer brilliance.
From a humanity perspective, it's pure tragedy.