Universal Out Rage Rings Peal Over French Website Developer
When a French website called Ma-Bimbo quickly boasts 1.2 million subscribers, Nicholas Jacquart, developer and entrepreneur, moved to South London with a 30-year-old businessman, Chris Evans and set up Ouza Ltd to try his luck with Baby British Bimbos.
Looks like he gauged the market correctly. Recently the London Times reported that “since the site opened last month (February 2008), it has managed to register as many as 200,000 members, mostly 9 to 16 year old girls, but probably quite a few old, balding, pervy men too.”
What the intrepid entrepreneurs hadn’t counted on was the firestorm that exploded when British and American parents fingered out what their little darlings doing with all those “Text messages”. The Girls, and the freaky old Pervs could access the Miss Bimbo site though a “free registration”; however the site does charge £1.50 for text message that buy “dollars” to spend on clothes, and other Bimbo necessities like “boob jobs”.
The Inquirer.net writer, Sylvie had one of the best takes on the story’
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/03/25/boob-jobs-encouraged-online
A WEBSITE FOR GIRLS aged between 9 and 16 has caused outrage amongst parents who found their little treasures giving their online bimbo characters boob jobs and subjecting them to crash diets.
The Miss Bimbo web based game lets little girls buy their virtual characters plastic surgery, diet pills, facelifts, lingerie and fashionable clothes to become “the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the world”. Well, at least, unlike most MMOGs, where characters just run around medieval kingdoms, this game actually has a point to it.
However, angry parents, and groups representing people with eating disorders have slammed the game saying that it puts ideas into impressionable children’s heads. Presumably unlike big-breasted, ultra- thin, Barbies, popular television shows or their favorite pop stars do.
In the game, players compete against each other and attempt to achieve the goals set for their characters on every new level. On level 7, for example, a character is told that she binged after breaking up with her boyfriend and “Now it’s time to diet . . . Your target weight is less than 132lbs”. On Level 11 girls are cheerfully told: “Bigger is better! Have a breast operation”.
A spokesman for parents’ group, Parentkind, Bill Hibberd, reckoned that “after playing the game some [girls] will then aspire to have breast operations and take diet pills”. But Mr. Jacquart says that the game only teaches children what they will later learn in the real world anyway. He also claims “the missions and goals for the bimbos are morally sound”. For a Frenchman, maybe.
The BIMBO site’s introduction came as research showed that British children as young as 6 were developing acute eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. On Monday it emerged that increasing numbers of British teenagers were undergoing breast enlargement surgery.
The rules section of the site warns that even though Bimbos should ideally be waif thin “every girl needs to eat, every now and again” and suggests feeding the character to prevent her dying from starvation.
The Miss BIMBO site users are set a sting of targets that would make most parents flinch:
Level 7
After you broke up with your boyfriend you went on an eating binge! Now it’s time to diet … Your target weight is less than 132 lbs
Level 9
Have a nip-and-tuck operation for a brand new face. You’ve found work as a plus-size model. To gain those vivacious curves, you need to weigh more than 154 lbs
Level 10
Summertime is coming up and bikini weather is upon us. You want to turn heads on the beach don’t you?
Level 11
Bigger is better! Have a breast operation
Level 17
There is a billionaire on vacation … You must catch his eye and his love! Good luck
Mr. Jacquart, entrepreneurial partner, Chris Evans, admitted that the story line for the Miss BIMBO script had been “…created by “lads” and no professional advice was sought about how girls may interpret issues surrounding weight loss and gain.”
After reading several stories about the Miss BIMBO site, I decided to look at it myself and found the following text on the homepage:
“Dear Players,
Due to unforseen worldwide interest in Miss Bimbo we have had difficulty in maintaining our game in the manner players have become accustomed. We are sorry for this inconvenience and can assure you that our game will be up and running as soon as possible.
As a result of this rather surprising media attention we have decided to remove the option of purchasing diet pills from the game. We apologize to any players whom this may inconvenience but we feel in light of this weeks proceedings it is the correct action to take.
We would also like to sincerely apologize to our players for the media comparison of Miss Bimbo and Paris Hilton. We feel that this does a dis-service to the players whom send their bimbos to university, tea parties or chess tournaments.
At this time we would also like to remind players that the Miss Bimbo team assume no responsibility or liability for any fashion faux pas, hairstyle disasters or boob jobs incurred in real life as a result of playing the Miss Bimbo game.”
The brouhaha about the game is as interesting as the game itself.
There will always be prevy old guys looking to exploit the unprotected.
Many of the ‘cultural’ influences that impinge on girls’ innocence, have more to do with the fantasies of 30-something men in LA and New York, who conceived and cast TV programs that target young girls, than actual societal norms. The non-so real, but very rude worlds devised and shown on MTV or VH1 are programming our youngsters to a very different expectation of life. We can rile against the pervy exploiters of children, however we — parents and guardians are ultimately responsible for their safety and their belief system. We must give them the tools to recognize and reject rubbish when they see it.
Miss BIMBO is a digital canary, a marker of where this culture is going — a warning to be heeded and acted upon.
