68 replies to this topic

[Tom Sager]

Dilly Dilly !! 

 

 

 

That's catchy as hell isn't it?  A brilliant piece of marketing. 

[Johnny D]

That's catchy as hell isn't it?  A brilliant piece of marketing. 

 

[Danica Davison]

F1 to the pit of misery ! DILLY DILLY!

[Johnny D]

Well will see...

 

"Well, judging from the overwhelming negative reaction on social media, one has to wonder just how much thought F1 officials gave to the decision and the resulting fallout."

 

Big backlash to F1’s decision to eliminate popular ‘Grid Girls’ and ‘Podium Girls’

https://www.yahoo.co...-060014683.html

 

J~

[dstevens]

Bonkowski isn't exactly plugged into the pulse of F1.  He's reciting a few tweets and claiming some sort huge fallout.  There is some push back but pretty much any change "the Americans" make in F1 gets push back from the UK/Euro die hard fan base.  It's a sport that tens of millions watch.  Several thousand on social media and some outlets looking for angst content isn't a huge blow back.  

 

It's a marketing decision.  It's got nothing to do with empowering women.  It's got everything to do with how Liberty wants to market F1.  There is nothing that disallows product or spokesmodels (which is what a grid girls are) being used by sponsors or even teams.  Red Bull activates at some races with that type of program.  What's happened is they won't be allowed on the grid pre race and they won't use those women to line the drivers leading to the interview room.

[Danny Steyn]

 

Tom Hart raised the DILLY DILLY in todays nuthouse drivers meeting at COTA. Feel we got a win today at the meeting!

[Bench Racer]

Dilly, an excellent example of a particular type of person or thing.

 

From a Miller Lite drinker, I sure don't believe Bud Light is worth one Dilly, say nothing about two Dilly Dilly.     

[Ron Alan]

No more thumbs up emoji for me...Dilly Dilly!

 

Oh...and to F1...I will be skipping the pre-game...text me when the pace car roles...Dilly Dilly! 

[dstevens]

If you are going to watch on ESPN there isn't going to be a pre race.  ESPN says they'll carry all three FPs, Quali and the race lights to flag.  No pre show, no post show.  One of the suits at ESPN told a media outlet that ESPN research shows people don't care about pre and post session content for auto racing. He must not have asked any US f1 fans...  

 

ESPN did such a piss poor job at Nascar I'm glad they're airing the new generic English language world feed.  FOM is now going to provide commentary as an option on the world feed.  ESPN will simply air what FOM gives them.  The pre and post session content will be on the new F1 over the top service on at least the F1 app and possibly the new ESPN app.  F1 will also offer in the US only to start a streaming service that will include all of the on track content.  It's said details will be released in the next couple of weeks and it should be ready to go by the time the season starts.  Will Buxton has already been hired to do basically the same thing he did at NBC as well as what he's been doing for FOM.  Neither Varsha, Hobbs or Matchett got the commentary work and Diffey is staying at NBC.

[Armando Ramirez]

i don't want to group all women drivers into the same bucket, because I'm sure they have a variety of opinions as well ... but every woman driver i know, thinks grid girls are stupid. and if you don't think they are paying attention to these kinds of things, again, you should talk with a few. 

we can choose to keep racing and driving fast "fun" to a dying, ever shrinking and aging demographic. or we can try to keep racing and driving fast fun for everyone. 


lets keep the show to the cars on the track and men and women that design, build, and drive them. pornhub exists for a reason, use that. 

You keep making reference to "pornhub" -  you protest too much

[ChrisA]

If you are going to watch on ESPN there isn't going to be a pre race.  ESPN says they'll carry all three FPs, Quali and the race lights to flag.  No pre show, no post show.  One of the suits at ESPN told a media outlet that ESPN research shows people don't care about pre and post session content for auto racing. He must not have asked any US f1 fans...  

 

 

ESPN sucks! I liked the pre & post race coverage. Have they not noticed how much pre-race coverage NASCAR has and they race essentially every weekend, so it's mostly rehash and fluff. I'd think 1/2-hr. of pre & post F1 would be sufficient. 

[ChrisA]

You keep making reference to "pornhub" -  you protest too much

 

No kidding. Porn is probably the most objectifying, damaging and harmful forms of media there is for women and children, and folks are concerned about F1 grid girls. I'll agree that some series grid girl uniforms may not present the best image but, F1 for the most part, has been tasteful and glamorous.

[Tom Sager]

Know kidding. Porn is probably the most objectifying, damaging and harmful forms of media there is for women and children, and folks are concerned about F1 grid girls. I'll agree that some series grid girl uniforms may not present the best image but, F1 has for the most part, has been tasteful and glamorous.

 

Give the grid girls some dilly dilly t-shirts to wear and call it a day.

[Armando Ramirez]

Know kidding. Porn is probably the most objectifying, damaging and harmful forms of media there is for women and children, and folks are concerned about F1 grid girls. I'll agree that some series grid girl uniforms may not present the best image but, F1 has for the most part, has been tasteful and glamorous.

Agree

[Danica Davison]

Give the grid girls some dilly dilly t-shirts to wear and call it a day.

 

Instead of T-shirts ... how about Dilly Dilly body paint instead

[Bench Racer]

Give the grid girls some dilly dilly t-shirts to wear and call it a day.

 

 

Instead of T-shirts ... how about Dilly Dilly body paint instead

Tom, are you serious, our grid girls are minimum 65 plus years mature.    And then there's the PC, how much paint would it take to cover those wrinkled up mature bodies. 

[gerglmuff2]

Know kidding. Porn is probably the most objectifying, damaging and harmful forms of media there is for women and children, and folks are concerned about F1 grid girls. I'll agree that some series grid girl uniforms may not present the best image but, F1 for the most part, has been tasteful and glamorous.

 

lol

[Johnny D]

Oh Snap !!

 

F1 'Grid Kids' to replace grid girls

 

Formula 1 has announced a new partnership with the FIA that will see young racing drivers get to stand on the grid in place of grid girls before a race.

 

It was confirmed last week that grid girls would no longer be used in Formula 1, and the sport has now announced a new initiative called Grid Kids that will be introduced with the target of making "the pre-race ceremony more relevant and interesting for fans, especially the younger ones."

 

Grand prix promoters will work with their local ASN – the national sporting authorities as recognized by the FIA – to select youngsters who are already competing in karting or junior racing categories, based on merit or a lottery. The young racers will then be invited to stand alongside the 20 F1 drivers on the grid pre-race, as well as their families having paddock access on race day.

 

Sean Bratches, F1 managing director of commercial operations, says the initiative is designed to act as inspiration for young drivers to continue chasing a career in racing.

 

"This will be an extraordinary moment for these youngsters: imagine, standing beside their heroes, watch as they prepare to race, the elite of the elite in motorsport, to be there, alongside them in those precious few minutes just before the start," Bratches said. "What an unforgettable experience, for them, and their families. An inspiration to keep driving, training and learning so that they can dream of one day being there themselves. What better way to inspire the next generation of Formula 1 heroes."

 

As the initiative has been realized in partnership with the FIA, president Jean Todt says it will also help local governing bodies to use the experience to increase interest in motorsport in their respective countries.

 

"Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and the dream of every young racer competing the junior series that make up the FIA's single-seater pyramid, from karting all the way to F1," Todt said. "We are therefore delighted to bring that dream a little closer by giving the future champions of our sport the opportunity to stand alongside their heroes on the grid in the build-up to the race start.

 

"For the wider FIA, this is an excellent initiative that provides additional support to our member ASNs in their efforts to grow motorsport worldwide through a unique reward they can make available to youngsters participating in their national series."

 

Where possible, the Grid Kids initiative will also extend to Formula 2 and GP3 during a grand prix weekend.

[SaulSpeedwell]

On the grand scale of women's rights issues globally, this is one step above a nothingburger, in my opinion.  Compare/contrast to the Qandeel Baloch matter, for example.

 

I thought gender empowerment was about allowing as many people from either (er ... uhh ... "all"?) genders to gain employment and live life as THEY wish to.

 

I personally don't see much of a difference between grid girls, runway and print models, "fitness models", "social media influencers", actors, and any other "model" who is happily and voluntarily using their physique and fitness to further their happiness, their profitability, their career, etc.

 

If, for whatever reasons, F1 wants to alter their marketing efforts to remove the appearance of "objectifying women", they clearly have a right to do so.  But the customer base also has the "right" to be unhappy about it.  See also NFL anthem protests and 1,000,000 other things that the Tweeteratti has expressed its first world "outrage" about since Twitter was invented.
 

Tangentially, I am reminded of an article I read many years ago about how the suicide rate, poverty, depression, and addiction issues of "little people" rose sharply once the general population became too politically correct to tolerate the "exploitation" of those people as circus performers, actors (think "Munchkins" in the Wizard of Oz moreso than Mini-Me and Peter Dinklage).  According to the article and the performers they quoted, they were traveling the country, performing, making money, partying every night with each other and generally having a blast.  And then "WE" decided it was exploitation and inappropriate for the circus and the studios to EMPLOY them because of their physical uniqueness.    

 

Empowerment and "agency" (dumb word invented by humanities professors?) is about letting people do what they want, staying out of their way, and helping them along if needed.  In other words, in this particular scenario, what the grid girls themselves say is more important to me than what anyone else says.  But, it is F1's show to manage, just like any employer with a base of customers.  

[LarryKing]

I can't help but think that the concern about employment opportunities for these young women is a red herring. I believe it has more to do with the growing cultural anxiety of the variety that elects orange-faced naked emperors. For every progressive action, there is a dissenting conservative reaction, which gives us the war on Christmas, the war on Southern Heritage, the war on marriage, the war on guns, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. Let's call F1's decision the war on dirty old men.