Who knew bikinis needed 360-degree enhancement? Sports Illustrated brought virtual reality to its Monday-released Swimsuit issue with the release of an accompanying iOS and Android app. The magazine shot scenes on location with special virtual reality cameras at the Casa de Campo resort in the Dominican Republic, according to USA TODAY. People can watch the videos on their phones with or without virtual reality goggles, or on actual virtual reality platforms such as Oculus Rift or HTV Vive.
Sports Illustrated subscribers have free access to the content, whereas it costs non-subscribers $4.99 for everything the app offers or just $1.99 for the virtual reality content, according to The Verge. The virtual reality technology will allow users to see the shoot from many different angles, including from the perspectives of photographers or models.
Publications and organizations such as The New York Times, The Des Moines Register and the United Nations have already utilized virtual reality for editorial content. Sports Illustrated is looking to create more sports-related virtual reality content later this year.
Sports Illustrated’s decision to debut its virtual reality feature for the Swimsuit issue is multifaceted and definitely not morally guided. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue is one of Time Inc.’s biggest moneymakers, according to Forbes. People who don’t even like sports will pick up the swimsuit issue, and it’s not because of the publication’s reputation for outstanding sports journalism.
Consumers who purchase the Swimsuit issue’s virtual reality app aren’t paying for insightful interviews or extensive game coverage — they’re paying for an enhanced one-on-one gawk session with a supermodel. Video titles like “Day at the Spa” and “Beach Seduction” make the new Swimsuit issue’s purpose clear. There isn’t room for sports.
The edition’s virtual reality integration emphasizes its voyeuristic and borderline pornographic tendencies. According to USA TODAY, Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, even said, “Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue should be renamed the sexploitation issue.” Sexploitation is happening now, folks.
However, it’s important to remember that sex is often considered a good thing. If the models find this empowering, then they should keep doing their thing and making their money. We’re just criticizing the business model and the people who buy into it.
We shouldn’t fear combining sex and technology, either. But it should be more than explicit when sex is a part of the package, and that doesn’t seem to be the case with Sports Illustrated. Whereas the Times used virtual reality to bring viewers into the world of refugee children or the Paris vigils, Sports Illustrated decided to dive into the world of watching women in bikinis pose. The publication goes from a photo of the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler shooting a basket mid-game in one issue to model Hannah Davis seductively removing her bikini bottom in another. The inconsistency is astounding.
As mentioned previously, though, Sports Illustrated is looking to expand its virtual reality endeavors to include more sports-related content such as courtside shots and locker room features. But the magazine chose to launch this high-tech program with the Swimsuit issue. And though this was certainly a smart business move in terms of generating the most attention and subscriptions, it presents a moral dilemma. The magazine should instead have enhanced its sports journalism with virtual reality first, rather than immediately turning to its Swimsuit issue.
Conversely, ESPN The Magazine publishes an annual Body Issue. Whereas Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue is focused solely on the sexual objectification of women, the Body Issue is a showcase of male and female power. It’s an opportunity to bask in the models’ pure athleticism. Just look at The Players’ Tribune to see integrated media done right — it clearly differentiates between lust and admiration.
All of this virtual reality content is so new that nobody really knows where it’s going. Even though technology, and virtual reality in particular, is all about bringing the consumer as close to the product as possible, women aren’t products and shouldn’t be treated as such.
This is not being done for the love of the game. It’s due to lust for the female body, and it feels invasive and creepy.
