A few days ago, I was looking through Mexx and ran across a table of about 15 different t-shirts for toddler girls. I perused the table, and saw that one of the shirts had the Eiffel Tower on it. I am a sucker for anything Paris-related, particularly when it comes to things for my daughter (she was conceived in Paris). However, when I lifted the shirt up, I saw that it had a shopping slogan across the bottom of the shirt -- something about how girls love to shop in Paris. I looked at the rest of the table and realized that every one of those shirts had a slogan about shopping or being pretty. Every single shirt. The next table had shirts marketed at boys, with various slogans -- sports, construction, etc. -- cliches, but at least ones that involve doing/creating things that could increase self-esteem, promote physical activity, and encourage creativity. Not so for girls. The only message we are sending our very young girls is that they need to be pretty, and the only thing they are good at is spending money to look pretty. Be vacuous, girls. Leave the thinking up to the boys -- it'll only give you wrinkles.
Retailers need to consider the messages they are sending, to all people -- young and old, female and male. These branded shirts demean all of us. Any progressive clothing stores out there? I'm looking for a new place to shop -- apparently, I'm good at it. Too bad for Mexx I won't be spending my money getting pretty in their stores anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment