"This is Alpha Phi" reads hand-held letter seen midway through the University of Alabama's Alpha Phi sorority's recruitment video, one generating national attention for its portrayal of women.
In one scene, a bleach-blonde group of members dressed down in pearly-white dresses lounge in the chapter house. Another depicts a bikini-clad "sister" frolicking away from the camera down a wooden lake dock, raising the college's flag behind her head.
A majority of the four-minute video centers around the predominately white sorority's whimsical take on Greek life. They have lake-side water fights, blow kisses at viewers, and dance in circles in the university's storied Bryant-Denny stadium, all to a jazzy, lyric-less musical number.
Aside from drawing students for the annual rush recruitment, Alpha Phi also created controversy for a lack of diversity and what many consider objectification of women.
"It's a parade of white girls and blonde hair dye, coordinating clothing, bikinis and daisy dukes, glitter and kisses, bouncing bodies, euphoric hand-holding and hugging, gratuitous booty shots, and matching aviator sunglasses," AL.com writer A.L. Baily said in op-ed published last Friday.
"It's all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition. It's all so...untempering."
Since then, the video - which was viewed over half a million times - has been pulled from the sorority's YouTube channel, though other have re-posted it. UA immediately release a statement denouncing the video, reminding students to "remember what is posted on social media makes a difference, today and tomorrow, on how they are viewed and we perceived."
A day earlier, the university released figures showing that of 2,261 women receiving sorority bids, 214 go to minorities. The school's website states African-Americans make up three percent of the population while Latinos compose just three percent.
Griffin Meyer, who shot the video, told USA Today the video wasn't mean to disparage anyone, instead being a result of poor planning and a lot of improvisation.
"This video isn't for politically sensitive adults who immediately associate a popsicle with sex," Meyer said. "There is no drinking, no drugs, no nudity. It's kind of sad girls can't play fake football or be in a bikini without the judgement of the entire internet."
Baily clarified her stance Monday afternoon, telling AL.com that her intent wasn't to humiliate the girls. She just wanted them to think about the video's ramifications.
"If they think that that's the best way to portray themselves, then more power to them. But I want to make sure they thought about it first," Bailey said. "They gave us a first impression, and that was the one they chose, and if that's the first impression they are most comfortable with, then that is fantastic."
Watch the recruitment video below and decide whether Alpha Phi deserves criticism.
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