Teen-striptease campaign on Youtube distresses charities it benefits

[elehhhhna]

July 13, 2008, 11:59PM
Teen-striptease campaign distresses charities it benefits
Companies will donate clothing for every Web hit of a young person taking off theirs


By CHEN MAY YEE
Mcclatchy-Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — A new national Web campaign that encourages young people to post striptease videos of themselves as a way of raising clothing donations for homeless youths has quickly run into a firestorm of protest from some of the groups it is supposed to benefit.

A national network that serves homeless youth said it is reconsidering the controversial campaign after Catholic Charities and other outraged groups in Minnesota and across the country complained that the effort is inappropriate and exploits young people.

Virgin Mobile, one of the largest cell phone companies in the country, and the National Network For Youth (NN4Y), a Washington, D.C., lobbying group for more than 150 organizations that help homeless youth, decided last week to begin testing the edgy campaign.

They asked young people to post videos of themselves stripping to music. In exchange, clothing companies would provide donations of new clothes based on the number of times the videos were viewed.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5886343.html