Provocative Women in Business Video Meets Wide Reception: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Dec 16, 2014

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Introduction
Columbia Business School students’ video divides opinion

Women and leadership: The progress made and the challenges still to be faced

A music video put together by three female MBA students at Columbia Business School may have divided opinion since its release, but it's become an internet revelation in the process - comfortably surpassing a million YouTube views to date.

The video parodies Meghan Trainor's song, All About That Bass. The performance, meanwhile, is a parody of the way in which successful women in business are perceived. It was produced for the Follies – a student-run comedy club at Columbia Business School that stages shows at the end of end of each semester.

In the video, the three female MBAs make light of the fact that successful women in business can often be judged as having an off-putting or abrasive style.

Instead, the song’s performers argue – while behaving in a reverse misogynistic manner – that being branded as abrasive or uncompromising just means that they’re doing something right, and is something they intend to keep on doing. In smashing the glass ceiling, there’s even a reference to Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball thrown in for good measure, showing their unapologetic stance.

Columbia Business School students’ video divides opinion

When the video was first posted by Columbia Business School’s student club, Businessweek wasn’t convinced that the parody was the right way to combat what are very real challenges faced by women in business.

However, since the video went viral on YouTube (with 1.7 million views at the time of writing), it has now been hailed as a “brilliant feminist video” by Glamour, with MTV going as far as to say that it “should be required viewing for every human being on the planet.”

These are surefire signs in themselves that the video has successfully broached the mainstream debate on gender portrayals – regardless of whether or not it has anything interesting to add to a more specific debate about gender inequality in business school or the state of play for women in business at the level of senior management.

It also seems to be living up to its primary purpose which – in being put together for Columbia Business School’s end-of-semester comedy show – is one of entertainment, as co-director and second-year MBA student, Wes Citti, explained in an email to Business Insider: “We thought this would be a fun idea to explore for a comedy video, to depict women embracing the label that comes with acting in a hyper-masculine fashion played to the level of absurdity.”

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).