Signal Amplification

[andrewducker]

From the website of the Early Learning Centre.

For the little princess in the family we have great feminine outfits like Butterfly Fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Ballerina and Nurse’s uniform. Why not add a medical case for that extra touch of authenticity.

The boys are catered for too, with great Doctor, Policeman & Fireman uniforms, not to mention fantastic Pirate and Knight costumes. All these can be combined with a range of accessories so your child will really look the part.

Because, apparently, boys can't do ballet, and girls can't be doctors.

You can contact them via the page here if you'd like to express your displeasure.
(cheers to momentsmusicaus and erindubitably for the linkage).

Comments

[kynn.livejournal.com]

i commented thusly:

Regarding:
http://www.elc.co.uk/children%27s-dressing-up-outfits/5540,default,sc.html

Hi, the 20th Century called, and they'd like their dated and offensive gender stereotypes back.

Regards, the 21st Century

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Bloody. Fucking. Hell.

Let's get a little bit of history, shall we?

The most successful pirate in all history was Cheng I Sao. This pirate had a fleet of 1,500 ships and commanded 80,000 sailors...

...and was female.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Here is my email. I'll probably make a journal post with this actually.

I would like to tell you a little story.

My little cousin Emma just turned ten. She's a bit of a tomboy - plays football, does karate, and even when she was much younger made such fashion statements as layered teeshirts with skulls and crossbones on them (she wanted to be a pirate).

For Halloween last year, she wanted to dress up as Dennis the Menace, because he was her favourite Beano character. My aunt got her her stripey jumper, black shorts, a toy dog and a black wig of spiky hair. She paraded this outfit for me when I visited their house, and was very pleased with herself.

A few days later, my aunt told me, Emma came to her and asked her, in a worried tone, whether it was 'okay' for her to dress up like Dennis the Menace, because she was a girl. Her mum, realising she must have told some other children at school about her costume and been mocked for it, told her, quite correctly of course, that she could dress up as anyone she liked for Halloween and that of course it was okay to be Dennis the Menace.

This seemed to make her feel a bit better, but then as Halloween night approached, my fiercly independent, individualistic, pirate-loving tomboy cousin came to her mum and said she didn't want to be Dennis the Menace anymore - could she be Minnie the Minx instead?

Dutifully my aunt made her an orange pigtailed wig and beret combo, and come Halloween Emma went to her school party dressed as a girl comic book character instead of the boy character she had really wanted to be.

And this:

http://www.elc.co.uk/children%27s-dressing-up-outfits/5540,default,sc.html

is what made it happen. Is this really the kind of copy we should be seeing on websites in the 21st century?

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I feel slightly sick ...

[cybik.livejournal.com]

Did you see the link I posted on twitter which had their entirely useless and insulting reply to a complaint about it?

http://homelifebalance.blogspot.com/2010/07/early-learning-centre-what-are-they.html

[andrewducker]

Just had my reply, thanking me for my comments and telling me they're being passed on to head office.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

I had similar but I note the wording on the page has now changed.

I started a Mumsnet thread about it, and it was one of the featured discussions today, here. So it was either the Power of Mumsnet or the Power of Andrew Ducker ... we shall never know which ... ;-)

[andrewducker]

All signal boosting is good. I know that a few people emailed because of me. I'm sure a fair few people emailed because of Mumsnet. Eventually we hit a critical mass where they actually do something about it. Sometimes the internet is useful!

[broin.livejournal.com]

It is, and well done. I mailed yesterday too. :)

[andrewducker]

Thanks, and yay you :->

*group hug everybody!*

[broin.livejournal.com]

Here we go:

--
Dear Mr Murphy,

Thank you for your email regarding the content on our website regarding dressing up and role play outfits.

We apologise for the inappropriate wording that was placed on dressing up product page, it is certainly not our intention to promote stereotyping and we fully appreciate this does not represent our brand values. At Early Learning Centre we pride ourselves on offering a huge range of toys and in an assortment of colours for customers to choose from and our photography throughout our website and catalogue features boys ironing, girls playing with space aliens, boys playing with dolls, boys cooking and pushing buggies, girls building and playing with remote control insects.

As a direct result of your feedback we immediately removed the text concerned from the website regarding the dressing up outfits and would like to thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are extremely sorry for any disappointment or upset caused.

I hope this information is of help and I have gone some way to restoring your faith in the Early Learning Centre.


Kind regards

Adrian Moss

Early Learning Centre

Internet Customer Services
---

[kashandara.livejournal.com]

Yup, I just got the same email, and much better it is than the ones received by previous posters about passing the comment to head office.

Go the power of the internet