A sorority at the University of Alabama has taken down its recruitment video after it was criticized by an opinion writer as "worse for women than Donald Trump."
The Alabama chapter of Alpha Phi put the video on its YouTube account to attract new members to its sorority during recruitment at the start of the fall semester.
View this video on YouTube
The sorority has since taken down the video, but it has been reuploaded by other users.
The video is about six minutes long and features scenes of the sorority members throwing glitter, giving each other piggyback rides, and frolicking around their house.
But Alpha Phi didn't just attract new members with the video. It also attracted the attention of an opinion writer named A.L. Bailey, who wasn't too happy about it.
Bailey wrote a piece for Al.com trashing the video as "reductive and objectifying." In the headline, Bailey says the video is "worse for women than Donald Trump."
Bailey writes how "unempowering" the video is to women and how homogenous the sorority is shown to be.
"It's a parade of white girls and blonde hair dye, coordinated clothing, bikinis and daisy dukes, glitter and kisses, bouncing bodies, euphoric hand-holding and hugging, gratuitous booty shots, and matching aviator sunglasses.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 ... unempowering."
Bailey adds that the video is only going to recruit creepers and horny college guys, not a "diverse and talented group of young women embarking on a college education."
The article immediately drew a ton of response on social media. Many people defended the sorority members, saying the author was generalizing them.
My support goes out to the ΑΦ chapter at Alabama. Don't let anyone tell you who you are just because others don't understand #AlphaPhi AOE❤️
Young women who claim to be members of the sorority also spoke out in support of their chapter.
I'm a member of Alpha Phi and have been on the presidents or deans list every semester. Alpha Phi encourages me to be the best person I can
They argued that they are college students, and they aren't going to apologize for having fun.
Maybe college is about having fun, football, and education. Not just solely education? It's about growing up and being on your own
But there were also plenty of people who agreed with Bailey. One mom wrote that when she saw the video she was "horrified."
Just watched the ‘Bama Alpha Phi video and now i’d like to bleach my eyeballs with whatever they used for their hair. As a mom I’m horrified
Someone said Alpha Phi's version of diversity is having "one brunette."
Check out how diverse Alabama’s Alpha Phi is. They have everything from blondes to one brunette. #whitegirlsmatter http://t.co/8s7zt8BVfR
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, a spokesperson for the University of Alabama said the video didn't set a good example.
"This video is not reflective of UA's expectations for student organizations to be responsible digital citizens," said Deborah Lane, the school's associate vice president for university relations. "It is important for student organizations to remember what is posted on social media makes a difference, today and tomorrow, on how they are viewed and perceived."
Neither the Alabama chapter of Alpha Phi nor the national organization responded to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.