Hooters Sponsored a Boy Scout Event and the Female Volunteers Promptly Got Shamed
Shorts and T-shirts are not appropriate camp attire, in the view of some Denver area parents. That, or women who work at Hooters aren't fit to interact with children in their off-hours. The restaurant chain sponsored a day camp that ran from June 27-29, sending female employees to volunteer with the boys. This move did not go over well. One mother described to the local ABC News outlet her shock upon picking up her son:
"I step back for a second and I take a look and I'm like, 'Are they wearing Hooters visors? Wait a minute,'" she said, adding, "Quite honestly we're questioning whether we're going to keep him in the organization at all next year."
"It's just the philosophies of the two organizations are polar opposites and I just don't think they should be together," another said. The Boy Scouts of America, of course, have come under fire in the past few years for some questionable philosophies of their own.
ABC reported that many learned of the sponsorship when they saw pictures of the event posted on Hooters Colorado's Facebook page (which in turn raises some questions, like, what were these Hooters-hating parents doing on its Facebook page, hm?). The restaurant initially removed the images, but reposted them after what they said was unfair portrayal of the event.
"We have opted to repost pictures due to a news story that ran this evening that was completely inaccurate," read Hooters' post. "We are disappointed a good deed was portrayed in poor light. This is our attempt to right the situation."
Clicking through the pictures, outrage at the volunteers' attire seems misplaced. Jean shorts, t-shirts and sweatshirts are pretty standard camp counselor fare, other Scouts parents agreed.
This is just the latest incident in which the policing of women's attire has grabbed national headlines. The argument of what's "appropriate" for a woman to wear in public has, in recent months, seen girls sent home from school and women sent home from work when their outfits are deemed too revealing.
The Denver Area Council, Boy Scouts of America offered the following in a statement:
An area restaurant extended support to help make a local Cub Scout Day Camp possible and provided volunteers for the camp. One group of trained volunteers mistakenly wore the wrong attire and it was addressed by our Council leadership. The Boy Scouts of America relies on millions of dedicated volunteers and we are very appreciative of their commitment. We extend our apologies for this mistake and look forward to continuing our mission of serving youth in the Denver area.
Hooters engages in many charitable initiatives nationwide, including fund raising, sponsorship, food donations and in-person volunteering, according to a company press release. When it came to the Scouts camp, Lauren Flippin, a Hooters regional marketing manager for Rocky Mountain Marketing, said in the statement: "The Hooters Girls were some of the hardest working volunteers they ever had."
July 6, 2016, 8:20 a.m. ET: This story has been updated.
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