Growing up, I was addicted to professional wrestling, mostly the WWE. I remember seeing my first match between the Big Bossman and some two-bit performer named The Berzerker. To me, these guys were larger than life (probably because they weighed around 500 pounds collectively) and I was hooked from day one. The WWE wasn't as big a media conglomerate as they are now. When I was a kid, you could buy shirts, action figures, magazines, posters, and VHS tapes. That was about it. Nowadays, WWE has attacked the movie industry with their own production studio. They sell music (in fact, I can probably name only a handful of performers who don't use a song made by a well known band). They produce five hours of television every week and have even separated themselves into two brands by splitting their roster down the middle. Point being, the WWE is worldwide. Their impact is huge on kids, especially since they now openly market themselves to children and their TV shows produce a PG rating. Long gone are the days of beer drinking renegades, trashy women, foul language, and pointing to your crotch. Nowadays, it is a clean cut super hero who preaches hustle, loyalty, and respect fighting a cold snake-like villain. It has become cartoonish again for the first time since the late 1980's.
Growing up. My dad would just tell me that wrestling is fake and that these men and women were highly trained athletes. Vince McMahon even says wrestling is staged. But what about UFC? They promote themselves as this generation's version of boxing. A 100% real combat sport with no scripts, no faking, all beat downs and blood. Their biggest star is arguably Brock Lesnar, a former pro wrestler. UFC is WWE's biggest competition, even though both sides dispute that claim. UFC, and mixed martial arts in general, aimed at the 18-49 demographic. They claim they are an adult form of entertainment. Yet, at the mall the other day I noticed something strange. UFC now distributes action figures.
They make kid's toys. They created kid's clothing. The made "play" gloves. That doesn't seem to me that they are marketing to adults. Their TV show on Spike TV airs at 8pm. One full hour earlier than WWE's Monday night show, 2 full hours before WWE's all-woman Tuesday night show.
Children are a powerful demographic to control but when do we draw the line? It is bad enough that baseball has its steroids scandal, that football condones DWI arrests, that hockey is a game played by toothless goons, and basketball celebrates their biggest star as a goodie goodie even though he cheated on his wife.
Kids have a hard time finding role models that deserve to be role models. My father can't turn to my 10 year old little brother and say that UFC is fake. He can't explain to him that they are just acting. They aren't. Yes, I am bashing UFC. Deal with it. At least with wrestling, I can point at who is responsible should something unwarranted reaches a child's eye. They have a script they follow. UFC doesn't. This isn't some Katy Perry Seasame Street controversy. This isn't kids playing video games that depict violence. This is real violence. Real blood. Real flesh being ripped apart in a human dog fight that Michael Vick would be proud of. And somehow, it is celebrated as the hip thing to watch in sports circles. "Ooo that wrestling stuff is fake!" they will holler. Yes, it is. It's no different than a movie, except that wrestling is live. At least when a guy gets hit with a chair in wrestling, he gets up and walks to the back. In UFC, on their TV programming they hype guys getting knocked out for good. Take a look for yourself on what they promote and tell me that you'd approve of your kids watching this on TV, buying their merchandise, and becoming a life long follower:
Cursing, trash talking, impending violence, threats, glorifying broken body parts, among other things. Think this is a good outlet for kids? I'd hope not. So why are they selling kid's merchandise? I'd love to find out. It will only get worse too. UFC is only getting bigger. They are exploring the possible markets overseas. Their pay per view events are growing in number and UFC 100 drew roughly 1.5 million buyers, that event featured Brock Lesnar in the main event.
To recap: Wrestling is fake, UFC is real. Wrestling markets towards kids with a PG product. UFC markets to kids with what should be a Rated R/TV-MA rating. UFC is going international and their PPV's are rapidly expanding. I guess the only thing we can feel safe about is our daughters. Dana White, president of the UFC, has openly stated that woman's fighting doesn't appeal to him. At least he has some morals. But he does want MMA to be an Olympic sport.
Ain't that a kick in the head.
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I agree with everything except the girls aren't influenced part.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid fan, I see talented young female mixed martial artists everyday. It's a big boom and I have a sneaking suspicion that Dana White (who is LEGENDARY for reneging on his statements) will see that and we will have a Zuffa related women's MMA organization.
This is a very interesting blog, and i honestly have to say I can agree with you on just about every point you made. When it comes to the children of this generation they are being brought up watching MMA/ UFC just as my generation did growing up watching the WWF "attitude" era. As the UFC grows more and more controversy will be thrown thier way. With the production of now action figures its becoming abundently clear that the UFC market has expanded to a younger demographic, and just as the WWE did back in the 90's I feel the UFC needs to be responsible by expressing on camera that these are trained Professional athletes, and that nobody under any circumstances should try this at home. They need to express that any desire to be a mixed martial artist should start at a local martial arts academy not with your friends in a back yard. With all that being said the parents also have a responsibilty in the matter. The UFC is still more of a product directed at adults, so the swearing and violence is going to be there just as it was in the WWE during the attitude era. The UFC needs to do their part in informing children that might be watching to not try it at home, however the parents and guardians then need to do their part as parents and if they dont condone the UFC or MMA fighting in their household, they have to make sure their kids dont watch it, and if they do allow the UFC in the house and for the kids to watch then inform them of what it is. A very dangerous sport that takes years of training and learning the various martial art forms that are on display in an octagon, and that only after they have dont those years of proper training could they even think of doing it themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree strongly with just about all of your points made in this post. I do not understand how something so violent and dangerous can be so highly promoted to young children. Do we not have enough violence in the world today? I think that allowing children to watch this at such a young age and allowing them to "pretend" and play with these action figures is a terrible idea. If they are watching this, not knowing any better, they will grow up thinking that it is all okay. I personally find the whole thing disgusting, every other second someone is getting hit and blood is flying everywhere. I just don't understand how causing actual physical pain to someone else can be considered a sport or even be cosidered enjoyable to watch. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI personally agree with this blog and your perception of the promotion of violence in modern society...But i also think that kids are exposed to violence no matter what, and you cant protect them from it when its everywhere video games,toys, TV shows, bullying and so on. I believe its really important to teach your child that violence is wrong and ultimately let them decide for themselves what there view is on it. And than again if your a parent that really wants to make sure what your child views on TV is non violent there is always the option of putting parental controls on certain channels. Also i love how you tied in the fact that the media portrays men who use steroids and cheat on there wives as heros. That is a huge problem and really gives children the wrong idea and its very very true.
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