The Naked Rowers
Everyone know that sex and sexy sells.
Example: decades of posters, calendars and advertising have often included photos and illustrations of younger, attractive often busty women. Learn how Angus Malcolm and the Naked Rowers have used nudity and social media to engage, influence, and tell a very unique story about sports and inclusion while raising "nearly £100,000". Listen to my Interview with Angus from July 2014; this is "raw and uncut edition."
My interview with Angus Malcolm
The male, mostly straight rowing crew at the University of Warwick have turned this traditional on it's head. First to raise funds to keep their "cash strapped" club afloat, but now to increasingly raise money to fight off homophobia in sports. The first time Angus Malcolm uploaded images from one of their shoots "within 24 hours it generated over 36k downloads." A "making of" trailer from their 2014 effort generated more millions of downloads from at least "1.5 million unique viewers." Angus is the photographer on all of the Warwick Rowers photos below.
Angus Malcolm, the producer of the Naked Rowers Calendar notes, "The tradition of the naked college calendar" does exist in the United Kingdom. A quick Google search turned up a mix of naked men, women and coed charity calendars from Universities in Oxford, Bristol, Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Kingston, Exeter, Aberdeen, Birmingham, and Cardiff. Sheffield Hallam University's Men's Rugby Union has produced naked charity calendars since 2001 yet has a Twitter page with 858 followers. In contrast the Naked Rowers have nearly 22k followers and 15k Likes on Facebook.
The Warwick Rowers Prove Organic Reach Works
Now in it's 6th year, Mr. Malcolm who has a long history working with non-profits as a professional communicator, attributes the success of the Naked Rowers calendar to many factors including:
"Give people what they want"
"Produce high quality content"
"Be relevant to the people who support you"
"Openness of the mostly straight rowers who are comfortable being naked [for a cause]"
The power of organic reach: "we don't pay for promotion"
"The project is student run but it isn't amateur"
The Naked Warwick Rowers Say “Thank You” With Even More Nudity
November 2, 2014The hunky dudes of Warwick University’s Rowing Club explain how getting naked can help fight homophobia in the latest teaser for their steamy, totally nude, 2015 calendar.
“Sport doesn’t have to be a homophobic environment and shouldn’t have to be a homophobic environment,” says another. “We’re getting naked to make a point,” another adds.
29th October 2014
WARWICK ROWERS UNDERGO NAKED REBOOT TO CHALLENGE HOMOPHOBIA AND BREAK DOWN BARRIERS IN SPORT
The Warwick Rowers have stripped off again for the sixth edition of their world-famous naked calendar. And the calendar got a very stylish send-off last night when the May Fair Hotel in London hosted the calendar’s first ever formal launch with special guest, actor Ian McKellen.
The boys were deeply honoured that McKellen agreed to host the calendar’s launch. A keen supporter of Sport Allies, the charity initiative the boys set up in 2013 to challenge homophobia in sport, McKellen commented:
“I was delighted to be asked, and more than happy to help the boys with the amazing work they are doing through Sport Allies. Though I did ask them to make clear on the invitation that I would remain clothed throughout the event.”
The dedicated student athletes, by contrast, are rarely seen clothed and trained for six months to make sure they were camera-ready for this year’s shoot. As rower Paddy West said:
“Having the calendar shoot coming up gave us all an extra incentive to get down the gym and get out in the boats, and we spent six months getting in shape. We really wanted to look our very best for our supporters when the kit came off!”
The boys have also put the calendar itself through a major boot camp for the 2015 edition. Twice as big as the previous calendars at approximately 16.5 x 12 inches , with enormous pictures, a sheet of four generous tear-out postcards and a full-colour tear-out poster that is approximately 23 x 16.5 inchessize, the calendar is a radical reboot. Veteran calendar star, Matt Dabell, who is making his third calendar appearance this year with solo shots for July and the full-colour poster, summed up the feelings of his team-mates:
“We were blown away by the response to the calendar last year, and we wanted to show our appreciation for all the support we have received. Of course, making Sport Allies a reality and a success is the best thank you we can offer, but people don’t buy this calendar just to support a good cause - they want a nice calendar! We had a good look around at the National Calendar Awards last year, and we have done everything we can to give them not just the best calendar we have ever produced, but onethat can hold its head up against any other calendar on the market.”
But it’s not all modelling shoots and awards ceremonies for the hard-working sportsmen. Members of the rowing club have been working with other students, including representatives of Warwick Pride, the university’s LGBT organisation for students, professionals from EY (Ernst & Young), and leading figures in the voluntary sector to roll Sport Allies out nationally, and to begin the process of creating an independent registered charity.
At the May Fair launch the team gave an update on progressand key findings from research commissioned by Sport Alliesand funded by the boys:
• Homophobia among young people is often about gender as much as sexuality – if you don’t conform to male or female stereotypes, you may be labelled LGBT
• Team sport is a key arena where this “gender policing” takes place
• Using sexuality as a shorthand for gender sends a clear message that heterosexuality is the “correct” sexuality
• This “hetero-normative” culture in sport makes it difficult for professional athletes to be out, thereby depriving all of us of LGBT sports role models, and reinforcing the existing prejudices.
Working on the calendar project has brought the need for Sport Allies home to Laurie Hulse, one of the calendar’s models, who said:
“Working closely with the LGBT community we’ve heard first hand of their experiences of bullying and the struggle to come to terms with their sexuality. As well as funding our outreach work we also hope we can make a statement with these calendars. We are happy to get naked for everyone to enjoy. If everyone could be more positive and accepting of other people’s sexuality, the world would be a better place. And top end sport could offer the role models to LGBT youth that they desperately need and currently lack.”
Ian McKellen is not the only one to recognise the work being done by the boys. The team became an international hit last year following appearances on Good Morning America, The Jonathan Ross Show and E! Entertainment News. The Good Morning, America appearance prompted more calendar sales in the following 24 hours than during the previous four years of the calendar.
Long time celebrity supporters including Stephen Fry and Boy George have now been joined by those who came to the last night’s launch, including Linda Robson, Leslie Joseph, Jason Gardiner, Antony Cotton, Jess Wright and Harry Derbidge.
Validation for the boys’ efforts came from the calendar industry itself in January 2015 when they were named CharityCalendar of the Year at the UK’s National Calendar Awards, where they also picked up the People’s Choice Awards.
The calendars (available for around $20 plus shipping at warwickrowers.org) are supported by an online viral video and will be available to purchase alongside a range of merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies, limited edition prints, wall posters and greeting cards. The range is on pre-sale and can be purchased on www.warwickrowers.org. The Calendars will also be available in Calendar Club in the UK and Kitsonin the US, among other selected retailers.
Coming up next… The boys’ next big adventure is a promotional tour to the United States, where they will be visiting Los Angeles, New York City and Miami. As well as promoting the calendar to the media, the rowers will be doing personal appearances, calendar signings and shoots for the 2016 calendar. The tour begins in late November and runs until mid December.
Los Angeles: Nov 28 - Dec 5
NYC: Dec 5 - 10
Miami: Dec 10 – 14
INTERVIEW: Warwick Naked Rowers
By The Gay UK, Aug 31 2013 08:49AMIt’s a warm, sunny day in August when I am admitted to the plush inner sanctum of the Groucho Club in Soho. I am here to interview Angus Malcolm, the photographer and mastermind behind the incredibly successful Warwick Rowing Club Naked Calendar, now in its fourth year.
by Greg Mitchell | 31st August 2013
Naked Rowers | Photography: Angus Malcomn
Waiting for me at a table in the corner is Angus himself and an arrestingly beautiful young man, tall, blond and blue eyed, who is introduced to me as Laurence, one of the stars of the coming year’s Naked Calendar from the Warwickshire Rowers. Unfortunately not naked on this occasion, his well-nigh perfect physique is easily evident beneath the simple blue jeans and white t-shirt that he is wearing.
Trying not to drool too obviously, I turn my attention to Angus and ask him how the calendar came about and how he became involved.
“Well, I was actually a writer and producer in TV and film and I used to work in the health and charity sector. In 2008 I felt like doing something different. Having always had a keen interest in photography, I started photographing men. I was approached by a guy on the website modelmayhem and found out he was part of rowing team. At the shoot I asked him if the club had ever thought of doing a charity calendar. As it turned out, he said that they had been actually thinking very seriously about it, so our meeting was quite serendipitous really. Initially the calendar was produced simply to fund the club, but by Year 3 it had started making significant amounts of money, which meant that we could start giving to charity. It was in year 2 that we started targeting the gay market, which lead us in year 3 to make a film of the making of the calendar. Our immediate concern at that time was how to stop it being pirated, and making it a charity project was a way of guilt tripping people into not pirating the film. So in the end the calendar raised funds for the club, and the video was for charity. That’s about to change now though. Instead of donating to other charities, we are in the process of creating our own. Basically all the money now goes into a kitty, which we draw on for charitable objects of this new programme which we are looking at called Sports Allies. Essentially net profits will be spent on the club or on Sports Allies.”
Naked Rowers | Photography: Angus Malcomn
Both men laughed loudly at this.
“It’s a f**king nightmare!” exclaimed Angus. “If you look at the images in years one and two, you will find that all the photos are very static. It’s really Calendar Girls with balls, if you like, but now we’re much more adventurous and doing shots with lots of movement in them, which makes it far more difficult, particularly if you are shooting more than one rower at a time. I shoot 365 gigabytes of images and it can take ages to get that one where nothing is seen. It’s often a case of doing the shot over and over again, and directing them to lift a leg a little higher or something like that.”
I asked if some of the guys were any harder to hide than others (well you would, wouldn’t you?).
“Bluntly, yes. And sometimes it really is a case of saying to someone, just go and stand behind that hedge.”
The film is even more difficult and youtube banned one of their videos, which is why they gave up on youtube altogether. As I’ve had cause to mention before the US can be quite draconian about (particularly male) nudity, and the Rowers have also had problems with their facebook page. Paradoxically, though, they have had lots of interest from the US, where they find it quirky that these guys are naked. Angus believes, and I agree with him, that these large corporations, like youtube and facebook globally have too much control and are imposing a mid-West culture on the rest of us.
However the American market is huge and people actually flew in from Texas for the live shoot they did last year, which again raised more money for their charitable causes.
The photos certainly have a great sense of fun about them; sexy, but family friendly, and undoubtedly homoerotic. The guys look as if they are enjoying themselves enormously, and all look completely unselfconscious about being naked together. I asked Laurence if this was actually the case.
Laurence speaks with a quiet confidence that is very attractive. “Oh yes. We all get on really well. When you train together as long as we do, you do become close. You have to if you’re going to spend 8 hours in a boat together in tight lycra. Getting naked is all part of the bonding process.”
Naked Rowers | Photography: Angus Malcomn
How was it getting your kit off for the first time?
“I had no qualms, but some of the newer guys did at first. However after half an hour everyone is just fine. Angus is really good at making people feel comfortable, and of course we shoot around the boat house so we are also in a familiar environment. Not to mention that the calendar has been going 4 years now, so the more experienced members make it easier for the newer ones.”
I asked if there were any gay members on the team.
“Yes,” said Laurence, “but it really isn’t an issue. Not in the least. Certainly for me, I’m used to open showers. I went to a boys’ boarding school. Showering and getting naked with the other guys seems the most natural thing in the world to me. And, incidentally, everyone in the team is aware of the support we get from the gay community and we really appreciate it.”
Angus cuts in, “We actually wanted to play on that ambiguity. The boys are having fun. It’s not sexual fun. But it’s fun none the less. Of course there is a homoerotic charge in a group of gorgeous athletes being together naked. It’s there, and it would be silly to ignore it.”
Naked Rowers | Photography: Angus Malcomn
Last year the proceeds of the film went to the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, and the club will continue to give to the Foundation till the end of this year. I asked why the Ben Cohen Foundation, and had any of the team any personal experience of being bullied.
Angus. “Not that anyone actually revealed, but they immediately saw that Ben’s journey had been similar to theirs. That was the reason why they chose to give money to his charity. It was a combination of nudity and a stance around homophobia, and the guys felt they were making a much more visceral commitment than perhaps even Ben himself. By being completely naked, they were saying, “We don’t care who looks and who enjoys this and we are making a stand and saying we support the gay community.” We had lots of letters and many of the stories came in particular from older men, who wished that something like this had been around when they were young and how much it meant to them. And the guys in the team found that particularly moving.”
Laurence. “I see it as very important that we straight guys are seen to be standing up and supporting you. I’ve seen “gay” used quite regularly in a pejorative sense – and that’s the most that I witnessed personally, but I think it’s wrong. I’ve also read plenty of moving stories that have been sent to us, one being from a guy in the police force who nearly lost his job because of being gay and him telling us how much he appreciated what we were doing,” and that seemed a good place to wind things up.
Having seen the images in the new calendar, it certainly seems to me that each year improves on the previous one. It’ll certainly be going on my wall next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment