In this day and age, we know that sexual coercion does not and should not need to be legitimised. We know that the internet has bred revenge porn and the damage it can do. We know about the pressure young people are under to look a certain way, act a certain way and the damaging, bullying behaviour they can be subjected to. So, why the heck then did Misguided think it was a good idea to decorate their Westfield Stratford and Bluewater shopping centre stores with a neon pink sign reading, ‘Send me nudes x’?
As the brand, which caters to a largely young female crowd lived up to its name, it's attracted the fury of shoppers. Tweets have spread like wildfire urging the company to take action. Rachel Gardner who originally lambasted the store, wrote on Twitter: ‘What hope is there for girls when the stores they shop in give them this message? @Missguided it's time to respect girls & remove this sign.’
The sign prompted youth worker Tim Gough to write an open letter to Nitin Passo, CEO of Misguided. He said, ‘It may be that you’re ignorant to either the sexual pressures of young people, or the law regarding sexting culture. Young people are under enormous pressure to produce and send sexually explicit pictures of themselves via the internet and on their smart devices… Legally, asking a young person to ‘send nudes’ is asking them to engage in the creation and distribution of child pornography. Your sign, thus your brand, is complicit in that.’
‘As a brand marketing to the 16-35-year-old female consumer bracket, having such a sign on your wall is simply shameful and reckless. You have a responsibility to liberate the girls to which you sell your clothing, helping them to feel empowered and stand against the abusive peer pressure they increasingly face.’ He added.
A petition was seeded out, which has close to 6,500 signatures, asked the brand to take down the sign and ‘respect girls more’. And, within 24 hours the brand have given way and agreed to remove this damaging message from public spaces. However, this isn’t the only troubling ‘tongue-in-cheek’ decoration Misguided has to deal with. While this battle may be won and this sign is coming down, another still hangs that reads: 'Get Naked!'. Lets hope Misguided learns from this lesson and decides on their own accord to remove this offensive message.
Photo courtesy of Rachel Gardner (@RachelGardnerRA)
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.