Despite 58,000 signatures on a change.org petition to its CEOs, a national day of boycott held Friday, a deluge of phone calls, emails and social media posts, and significant risk of loss of reputation and brand damage, Westfield continue to absolve itself of responsibility for the advertising behaviour of tenant Honey Birdette.
Westfield had said it “was listening” and had asked HB to remove “certain elements” from its current campaign. Entirely missing the point that it was never just about a few Santa ads but about the continual promotion of porn culture in public spaces over a number of years.
Here’s how I responded on Facebook: 
Peter Allen, CEO of Scentre group (owner and operator of Westfield Australia), responded, perhaps thinking that we would be really impressed by the fact that he is a ‘male Champion of Change’ working to end violence against women. (Time to join the dots here Peter). Allen said Westfield lessees have a substantial degree of autonomy in “how they sell and promote their wares… as long as they are doing so within the parameters of their legal obligations”.
Now I reckon Westfield would require their tenants to abide by a whole stack of things if they want to set up shop in their premises. I bet there’s a big fat rental agreement somewhere of everything tenants have to agree to, from fixtures to fittings to cleaning, safety, opening hours and a lot more besides. But giant sex-industry inspired images of women plastered all over HB (and other Westfield stores) – well, Westfield is fine with that. Surely they have the power to control what happens in their own shopping centres? Why not specify that you can’t wallpaper your shop fronts with pornified images of women in Westfield’s premises? That’s what good corporate citizenship would look like.
And you can’t call yourself a ‘male champion of change’ if you won’t apply some ethical guidelines to stop your own premises being used to promote sexism, sexist behaviours and the idea that women exist as playthings for men. The research is solid. Sexualised portrayals of women contribute to a “diminished view of women’s competence, morality and humanity”. (Who hands out these titles anyway? Is there any vetting process or does any bloke who say he wants to be called that just get the title? Not my champion!).
I’ve been doing a bit of media on the issue. Here I am as “Mum Melinda” on Yahoo7.
MTR quoted:
“Westfield and Honey Birdette are promoting sexism and inciting harassment of women by allowing these ‘pornified’, hypersexualised images into shopping centres around the country.
“This is so harmful to our kids. It is grooming children to believe this behaviour is acceptable and that is how women should behave.
“We’re conditioning boys to act disrespectfully towards women.
“One mum told me how her four-year-old daughter imitated a Honey Birdette ad she saw by pouting, posing and rubbing her hand down her thigh.
“To say children don’t notice these images is insane and a lie.”
Keep up the pressure! If you haven’t already – sign the petition.
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