Joe Francis, the founder of the hugely successful softcore porn company, was supported by major celebrities yet allegations of violence and coercion have persisted
Of all the late 90s and 2000s cultural phenomena to come under recent scrutiny – the Pam and Tommy sex tape, Woodstock 99, Abercrombie & Fitch, over-inflated Silicon Valley startups, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” – Girls Gone Wild is arguably the least surprisingly toxic. Started in 1997 by a fratty entrepreneur named Joe Francis, Girls Gone Wild sold VHS and then DVD videos of co-ed women, almost always intoxicated, baring their breasts on some hedonistic spring break trip in exchange for free underwear or hats.
Francis dominated the soft-core porn market in the early internet days; millions of people purchased footage of the girls – often barely over 18 and sometimes younger, predominantly white, thin and blonde – getting badgered by cameramen to take more shots, take their tops off, make out with their friends, use sex toys on themselves. Obviously, this has not aged well. (Nor was it without controversy at the time.)
