Cotton On – are you on CRACK?
Yesterday, I was contacted by MM reader, Elizabeth, who was upset at the latest slogan t-shirt she saw at Cotton On Kids AND IT'S WORSE THAN "I'm a tits man"…
Check this out – Elizabeth and her mother were shopping at the Cotton On Kids store in Kotara and was aghast to see a baby t-shirt with the slogan: "They Shake Me"
I think my eyes just exploded and I lost the ability to type. Oh wait! Back again! Just in time to say this:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elizabeth contacted the store via email and wrote the following:
I was in your Kotara store yesterday and saw a baby t-shirt with "They Shake Me" emblazoned across the front. Can you please explain the thinking behind this? Is this supposed to be funny? Thank you – look forward to your response.
The response she got was standard fob-off stuff – no doubt prepared after the furore that ignited a couple of weeks ago over their other charming t-shirts with slogans such as "I'm A Tits Man" and "Living Proof My Mum Is Easy".
Thankyou for your recent enquiry regarding our KIDS slogan range. We appreciate your feedback and giving us the opportunity to respond.
The products in the current spotlight are a small percentage of the total slogan range. Others include lines such as “I heart Dad”, “It's not easy being a princess”, “Dad and I agree”, “My mummy’s the best”, and “My daddy my hero” to name a few.
Cotton On Kids services all personalities including a market that demands confident and innovative children’s clothing. These products are intentionally edgy and irreverent and are certainly not meant to be taken seriously.
99% of our product and advertising depicts a playful and endearing confidence that simply encourages what makes kids cute.
The slogan products aren’t for everyone and in an effort to continue meeting the demands of all our customers, we constantly update and changing our range.
If you would like to give anymore feedback on what slogans you think are acceptable, please re-visit our website in the Contact Us section and select Press/Marketing Enquiries in the Subject field.
Again, thankyou for taking the time to let us know what you think.
Kind Regards
So she wrote back, asking the company to clarify whether they were, in fact, endorsing or making a joke about child abuse – shaking babies, in case you didn't know – is responsible for the brain damage and death of babies every year.
IS THAT FUNNY, COTTON ON? IS IT? IS IT FUNNY TO JOKE ABOUT BABIES BEING ABUSED???? (they're my words, not Elizabeth's – she was far more restrained and polite).
And this is the response she got back:
We appreciate your feedback however we have not made any further decisions on our slogan tees,
Thanks for your time Elizabeth.
Kind Regards,
I am not going to publish the name or email address of the 'marketing assistant' who sent these emails because let's be kind and assume that she is merely the messenger, not the decision-maker. What's truly frightening is how many people along the Cotton On food chain must have approved this line and this slogan in particular.
What the hell are you people thinking and how dare you try to turn
children into the sickest kind of human billboards to advertise your
smart arse and grossly insensitive slogans?
What's next Cotton On? Kids t-shirts that say "My Parents Sexually Abuse Me"? Or what about "My Parents Bash Me"? That would be hilarious, wouldn't it!!
Internet, I am outraged, disgusted and distressed. I am a customer of Cotton On Kids. A long-time, loyal customer who buys a STACK of clothes there for my kids and who willingly endorses their products FOR FREE whenever I am interviewed by the media and asked where I buy my kids clothes.
But Cotton On? Listen hard. I will not be setting foot inside any of your stores – not your kids stores or your adult stores or your Rubi shoes stores – until you discontinue this appalling line of slogan t-shirts and issue some kind of apology.
You might also like to think about making a donation to Childrens' Hospitals around Australia who face the grim reality of babies who HAVE been shaken. Sometimes to death.
If you share my feelings, and those of Elizabeth, I encourage you to vote with your wallet and to share your thoughts and purchasing decisions with Cotton On via email RIGHT HERE.
If that link doesn't work, the email address is: customerenquiries@cottonon.com.au
And please forward and Re-tweet this post to everyone you know who shops at Cotton On Kids.
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who read this post and forwarded it and re-tweeted it and contacted Cotton On….our voices were finally heard this afternoon. Having made all major TV news and radio bulletins and featured on all news websites, Cotton On have withdrawn the t-shirts from sale with a rather extraordindary statement:
The Australian reported at 4pm Friday…
month Cotton On had stuck by its range of shirts, which included
slogans such as "I'm a tits man'' and "I''m living proof my mum is
easy'', saying there was a place in the market for their "edgy'' humour
that pushed the boundaries.
But today, as anger spread through
the social networking sites, Cotton On finally cottoned on to their
customers' feelings, offering a contrite apology and a promise to
withdraw the offending items from sale.
"Cotton On Kids were
unaware until recently that the slogans were being viewed as offensive
and that they could progressively cause this extent of angst amongst
consumers and social groups alike,'' the company's statement released
this afternoon said.
"Although these products are
intentionally edgy and irreverent, and the succession of this range was
driven by demand, the recent attention implies that the slogans in
question have crossed the line.
"The Cotton On Group … extends an apology to those who have been affected by the slogans.
It
promised to withdraw offensive products from sale and stop their
production and "review the ongoing slogans range to ensure no reference
is made to categories pertaining to sexually explicit behaviour, child
abuse, drugs and profanity.''
"Although Cotton On Kids will
continue to service a market that demands confident and edgy clothing
that pushes boundaries, it has been recognised that certain references
are not appropriate, and will sincerely endeavour to not cross these
lines again,'' the statement said.
Before the backdown, parents were livid at the t-shirt that made a joke of shaking babies.
Commenting on the family blog site MamaMia, many parents today said they planned to boycott the store.
"I
don't really have words to express my utter disgust at Cotton On Kids
and their attempts to be "cool" and "hip" and "modern" with these
appalling slogans,'' wrote Angie.
Julie Gale from children's rights lobby group Kids Free 2B Kids said Cotton On should be ashamed. "Issues
like the sexualisation and abuse of children aren't humorous. They are
serious. This retailer isn't reading the mood of parents out there,''
Ms Gale said.
While I'm glad we have forced their hand and the clothes have been withdrawn, I think their statement is a cop-out. Trying to excuse their manufacture of these slogan t-shirts as being "driven by demand" is a lot like a drug dealer claiming that he only sells drugs because people want to buy them.
There will always be fools who buy things. That doesn't mean you have to demean yourself – and everyone else – by catering to that sick minority and making jokes at the expense of dead and brain damaged children. Children like Lincoln, who Caroline Overington has written about here.
COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOW CLOSED.
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HAHAHAAHA you guys get over it and stop making a constant hassal about every single little thing!!!!! Love COTTON ON!
Oh for god’s sake, get over yourself and get that enormous chip off your shoulder. If your child wanted to wear a shirt saying ‘my parents are rednecked bogan scum’ would you still be pro-offensive attire? Thought not.
Oh for god’s sake, get over yourself and get that enormous chip off your shoulder. If your child wanted to wear a shirt saying ‘my parents are rednecked bogan scum’ would you still be pro-free speech? Thought not.
Sorry it’s not very often I get vocal…. I do get vocal when I have someone decide for me what they feel is appropriate and what isn’t.
I have no doubt you may find my choice of lifestyle vulgar, and my use of superlatives inexcusable.
That aside, you STILL do not have the right to choose what I dress my children in…. sorry, but it’s that simple….
Be as offended as you want, but it’s still my CHOICE!!!!
The funny thing is, you mention about them following market demand…. which you think is a load of crap….
Sorry….. hipocritical…. as they followed market demand AGAIN listening to you freedom-of-choice suppressing clowns.
I am very interested for you to reply on this…. and see what wonderful use of the English language you choose to prove to me you aren’t a fascist, undemocratic hipocrite. Because to this point in that article, is all I’ve seen.
You making choices for the rest of us….
I’m damn sure you wouldn’t like me making choices for your child…. why the hell do YOU get to make choices for mine???
Once again, bad taste is a part of society…. you cannot use that as an excuse….
Otherwise, all those Holden drivers will be able to stop Ford lovers buying Fords….. It’s our freedom of choice that makes this country the free country it is…. and people like yourself do not belong here…..
Be a part of OUR society…. or go find somewhere else to live. China springs to mind…. you’d do well in politics there.
Or perhaps move to South Australia….. you’ll fit in well there with the governments censorship laws….
Perhaps you could let them sell them again, but put them in a blocked off room at the back with red lights???
Maybe force people to walk out with them in a brown paper bag to hide the contents?
Ok…. end of rant, but I’m hoping that someone with your level of intelligence sees the LARGER moral issues you’ve raised by taking a stand on a smaller moral issue….. can’t have your cake and eat it too….
Well done….. you’ve just done exactly what the honourable Mr Conroy has done with the Internet…. you have decided FOR EVERYONE, what they think is appropriate….
If you don’t bloody like the jumpsuits, just don’t bloody buy them…. but for the love of god… stop FORCING your opinions on everyone else!!!!
You would be the first to jump up and down if the Govt took away a civil liberty close to your heart wouldnt you…. but when it comes to everyone else….. **** em is your say hey???
Please don’t run for parliament…. we don’t need people like you running the country….
Oh and for the love of whatever diety you worship…. don’t teach your children to be so narrow minded….
I find the slogans refreshing, and humourous…. when they are taken in the correct context, which you’re obviously incapable of doing….
If my children were still at that age, I would buy these in a second…. very refreshing…. and thanks for your uncalled for censorship….
I actually find these T shirts quite funny. If you don’t like them don’t look or buy them. I have one that says ‘Drive it like you stole it’ with a picture of a pram on the front – it doesn’t mean me, my baby or anyone else is about to go and steal a car and go joy riding. It’s bit of fun, this is PC gone mad as usual, take it as it was intended. No one is deliberately taking the pee out of abused babies.
The one that says, ‘they shake me’ it written in an etcha sketch which if I remember from my childhood you had to shake it to start a fresh doodle. I guess some people didn’t get the joke or didn’t have an Etcha Sketch when they were a child.
Often we forget the little guy, the SMB, in our discussions of the comings and goings of the Internet marketing industry. Sure there are times like this when a report surfaces talking about their issues and concerns but, for the most part, we like to talk about big brands and how they do the Internet marketing thing well or not so well.
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