by Kathy Parker via 10Daily

Honey Birdette has once again become a hot topic in the media over risqué floor-to-ceiling advertisements in their Westfield shopping centre stores across Australia.

This time last year, Melbourne father Kenneth Thor started a Change.org petition to stop Honey Birdette from using porn-style advertising in family-friendly shopping centres after his two young children were exposed to images he felt “depicted women in hyper-sexualised poses and various states of undress, introducing concepts of pornography and sexuality to a hapless public, including little 4-year-old girls like my daughter”.

Yet managing director Eloise Monaghan dismissed the petition, stating it ridiculous to label the advertisements as porn, even though Honey Birdette have had three of their recent adverts accused of being in line with the porn industry, as well as just receiving their 20th advertisement ban by Ad Standards, with the advert deemed over-sexualised based on the complaints it received.

However, both Honey Birdette and Westfield have failed to take action against the complaints and the petition has regained momentum after Melinda Tankard Reist, co-founder of Collective Shout, a grass-roots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media and advertising, posted an image on her Facebook page with a link to the petition, commenting, “Bought to you by that #malechampionofchange Scentregroup Westfield (full size window display at my local Westfield this afternoon). Help us reach 100,000 signatures by Christmas!”

Read full article here.

See also: ‘How is this allowed at shopping centres?’, Sherele Moody, Courier Mail

                  Collective Shout responds to common defences of Honey Birdette sexploitation

Sign the petition here

Our annual list of corporate offenders who don’t deserve your Xmas dollar!

As published at Collective Shout

As our loyal supporters know each year in the lead up to Christmas, we release our annual blacklist of corporate offenders- companies that have objectified women and sexualised girls to sell their products and services throughout the year.

You can send a message to these companies by voting with your wallet and refusing to financially support brands that rely on sexploitation to sell their products.

Westfield

Westfield is at the top of our boycott list for the second year running. 64,000 people have signed a petition by Melbourne father of three and Collective Shout supporter Kenneth Thor, calling for Westfield to take action against Honey Birdette’s porn-themed advertising in shopping centres around the country. Westfield has failed to demonstrate corporate social responsibility and continues to facilitate the display of sexist and porn-inspired imagery in in its malls. As Honey Birdette’s landlords, we don’t accept Westfield’s pathetic claim that there is nothing they can do or their fobbing off complainants to Ad Standards (ignoring the fact Honey Birdette continues to ignore rulings against it).

Honey Birdette

Sleazy sex shop Honey Birdette continues to use sexually exploitative and porn-themed advertising in their store front signage, with no regard for the rights of women and children. The retailer consistently fails to comply with Ad Standards rulings against them. After employee complaints of workplace bullying and sexual harassment, WorkSafe found a breach in health and safety laws and issued over a dozen Improvement Notices. Read more.

Frank Body

Australian make-up and skincare brand Frank Body uses sexual objectification to market its products on social media. Frank Body sexually objectifies and dissects the bodies of women in their social media content, using sleazy double entendres and innuendo under the male persona “Frank” about getting naked and getting dirty.

One such is its lip tint product called “Send Nudes,” a common refrain young girls have had to endure from boys and men who pester them daily for intimate images.

A group of teenage girls appealed to the company but their concerns were dismissed. Using the language of girls oppression to sell them beauty products mainstreams, normalises and makes a mockery of the everyday sexual harassment teen girls experience.

Bras N Things 

Lingerie retailer BrasNThings frequently uses highly sexualised and sexually objectifying imagery of women in their shopfront advertising. BNT is also a long time promoter of major porn industry brand Playboy.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey romanticises intimate partner violence and stalking, and sends the message that men’s violence against women is erotic and desirable. You can send the message that violence against women is not sexy, by refusing to buy the DVDs, books or associated merchandise.

Wicked Campers

For more than a decade, Wicked Camper vans have spread their harmful anti-women messages through degrading artwork and slogans across Australian roads. The company is notorious for its sexually explicit slogans and imagery, some advocating rape and extreme violence against women, including murder. We’re calling on MPs to enact uniform legislation across all states to deregister Wicked Camper vans that breach the Ad Standards code of ethics. Refuse to hire these vans on your Christmas holiday. 

UltraTune

UltraTune has attracted hundreds of complaints over their sexist ads, depicting women as mindless bimbos who can’t operate their vehicles. The company continues to show their contempt for women by hiring high-profile men with histories of rape and physical violence against women to star in their ads, including Mike Tyson and Charlie Sheen. Get your car serviced somewhere else this holiday season.

Retailers that promote Playboy branded sexual exploitation:

Playboy is a major brand of the global pornography industry. More than just a magazine, Playboy Enterprises own various adult TV channels and websites, broadcasting brutal hardcore pornography. Retailers that stock Playboy branded products are not only contributing to the mainstreaming of the pornography industry, but helping Playboy to produce and distribute more pornography that degrades and objectifies women. Read more about Playboy.

Amazon

Following complaints from activists Amazon recently pulled the sale of child sex dolls from its platform. But just a few months later the dolls are back for sale on its website. The life like silicone sex dolls are deliberately designed to resemble the bodies of little girls and are often posed for sale in children’s clothing alongside children’s toys. Anyone importing these dolls to Australia risk fines of up to $450,000 and 10 years in prison. Read more about Amazon.

Looking for some positive alternatives? Check out those companies and brands that have signed our Corporate Responsibility Pledge not to objectify women and sexualise girls. Do you know of any others? Let us know in the comments!

As published at Collective Shout

A few months back, we called out skincare company Frank Body over their cosmetic product ‘Send Nudes’. The product, a lip and cheek tint, features the image of a naked backside with the phrase ‘Send Nudes’.

A group of teenage girls had approached the company about the product which they felt normalised and legitimised the sexual harassment they encountered on a daily basis, included being hounded by boys to send nude images of themselves. They called on Frank Body to change the name of the product.

Frank Body dismissed the girls’ concerns, but noted their brand was a “celebration of all women” and claimed their social media content “encourages positive self-image”. They concluded, “Frank Body is all about empowering, never objectifying, women.”

We’ve had a close look at Frank Body’s social media content, and we have to disagree.

Sexual objectification occurs when a woman is treated as a body, or a series of body parts, for others’ (men’s) use and consumption, or when her physical attributes and sexual capabilities are regarded as representative of her whole self or seen as determining her worth.

Frequent posts on Frank Body’s Instagram account include sexually objectifying imagery of women, from images of women without clothing, of women’s bodies without heads or faces, and even just women’s fragmented body parts depicted in isolation. This is what sexual objectification looks like.

The Headless Women in Hollywood Project documents the sexist practice of “fragmenting, fetishising and dehumanising images of women”, and explains why this sexually objectifying treatment of women is harmful:

“By decapitating the woman, or fragmenting her body into decontextualised sexual parts, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze. The question of her consent is removed completely alongside her head, and her purpose becomes solely that of being looked at by men obediently. Her value is that only of her sexual appeal to men, and not of her personhood.” In depicting a woman without a head, she is stripped of personhood, and becomes merely a sexualised body.

Frank Body claims to “never” objectify women, and that they are “all about” empowering women. But reducing women to object status is the opposite of empowerment. As Dr Meagan Tyler said:

“There is nothing empowering about sexual objectification. Sexual objectification is literally about reducing women’s power. These representations of women, that reduce us to consumable body parts, reduce our recognition of women’s full humanity and make it more difficult for women to participate in public life.” Essentially, the objectification of women is incompatible with women’s empowerment.

If Frank Body wants to empower women, they need to seriously reevaluate their marketing strategy that heavily relies on the sexual objectification of women, and sleazy double entendres referencing getting dirty, getting naked and getting whipped.

We’ve written to Mecca, Australian stockists of Frank Body, asking them to withdraw the ‘Send Nudes’ cosmetics. These products have been given significant promotional space in Mecca Maxima stores. Mecca’s promotion of Frank Body ‘Send Nudes’ products undermines Mecca’s advocacy for women through their M-Power programs. You can read our letter here.

See also:

Teen girls call out Frank Body over sexist “Send Nudes” cosmetics 

Why is Frank Body asking young girls for naked selfies?

Frank Body: From coffee scrub to abusive partner

As published at Collective Shout

Wicked Campers are notorious for their sexually explicit slogans and imagery, even advocating rape and murder. Ad Standards is powerless to enforce rulings against them, and as a result, Tasmania, ACT and Queensland have passed laws to deregister Wicked campervans that do not abide Ad Standards Rulings.

We are calling on MPs to enact similar legislation in other states, so we have written to the following ministers:

Luke Donnellan, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Victoria
Michelle Roberts, Minister for Police and Road Safety, Western Australia
Stephan Knoll, Minister for Transport, South Australia
Melinda Pavey, Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, New South Wales

The Hon. Luke Donnellan, MP
Minister for Roads and Road Safety
Level 22 1 Spring Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Dear Minister,

We are writing to draw your attention to the passage of legislation in two states and territories preventing the company Wicked Campers from advertising sexist, misogynistic and racist slogans and imagery on their camper vans. It is our hope that you will do what you can to ensure that Victoria follows suit.

For many years, Wicked Campers has attracted widespread criticism for its normalising of violence against women. The vehicles are notorious for their sexually explicit slogans and imagery, some advocating rape and even murder. The company has also been criticised for its anti-gay and racist slogans. Images of these vehicles can be seen at https://www.collectiveshout.org/wicked_campers.

To date, Ad Standards has upheld almost 80 complaints against the company. However, the panel has no powers of enforcement and there are no penalties for non-compliance. As a result, Wicked Campers has ignored all rulings against it. Given the advertising code is voluntary, there is nothing to stop Wicked Campers from promoting content that vilifies women.

In 2015 the company released a sarcastic media release mocking complainants, stating, “We employed a team of highly-intelligent, socially-conscious super monkeys to closely monitor the subject matter featured on our vehicles and scream loudly when offended.”

Given Wicked Campers’ refusal to comply with Ad Standards rulings and its ongoing disregard for community attitudes and research demonstrating the harms of objectified portrayals of women (J Sex Res. 2016 May-Jun; 53(4-5):560-77. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2016.1142496. Epub 2016 Mar 15.Media and Sexualization: State of Empirical Research, 1995-2015. Ward LM)) state governments must take urgent action to bring the company into line. Queensland, Tasmania and ACT have all taken legislative measures to force compliance.

In 2016 Queensland passed the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) (Offensive Advertising) Amendment Bill enabling the Department of Transport and Main Roads to cancel a vehicle’s registration if the owners did not remove offending slogans within 14 days of an Ad Standards ruling.

Under the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2000, in the ACT, the Road Transport Authority can refuse the registration of a vehicle in the ACT if it has previously been cancelled and suspended in another jurisdiction. ACT Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety, Shane Rattenbury, stated that vehicles de-registered on this basis in other states would will not be eligible for registration in the ACT.

Similarly, in 2017 a spokeswoman of the Northern Territory, Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics minister, Nicole Manison, said:

“The Northern Territory’s Motor Vehicles Act allows the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to cancel registration of vehicles which are ‘a source of annoyance to the public’, which likely includes vehicles displaying sexist, discriminatory or otherwise offensive advertising.”

In 2017 Tasmania also took action against sexually explicit and discriminating slogans and imagery featured on Wicked Campers vans in response to complaints about slogans displayed on the rental vehicles.

On behalf of our thousands of supporters, we are asking that you move to implement similar legislation. We note that Victoria has taken a strong stand to address violence against women and commend your state’s commitment to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. It is our strong view that moving to outlaw sexist and degrading slogans such as those features on Wicked Camper vans would further demonstrate the commitment of your government to addressing sexism in all its manifestations.

Thank you for your urgent consideration. We look forward to your response.

3 October 2018

At the time of publishing these letters, we have not had a response from any of the ministers. You can contact them on Twitter @LukeDonnellan @MelindaPaveyMP @StephanKnoll @MichelleMidland 

See also:

Letters to Luke Donnellan, Melinda Pavey, Stephan Knoll and Michelle Roberts.

Sign our petition: Drive Wicked Campers off the road