Earlier this month at Mumbrella360, Scentre Group’s customer experience director, Phil McAveety, spoke about Westfield malls as “living centres”. Lyn Swanson Kennedy was angry. Collective Shout has been petitioning Scentre’s CEO to stop Honey Birdette’s “porn-themed window displays” for 18 months. Here, she tells CEOs like him that actions speak louder than corporate social responsibility value statements.
June 21, 2019
by LYN SWANSON KENNEDY
Earlier this month, Swati Bhattacharya took to the stage at Mumbrella360 with a very clear message to men: “Women have grown tired of waiting for them to grow a conscience”.
Within a few hours, at the same event, on a different stage, Scentre Group’s customer experience director, Phil McAveety, spoke on the transformation of Westfield malls into “living centres”. It was difficult for us at Collective Shout to ignore the irony. For 18 months, we have been petitioning Scentre Group’s CEO, Peter Allen, to put a stop to sex-shop Honey Birdette’s porn-themed window displays in its shopping malls – beg your pardon, “living centres” – to no avail. The petition has 72,000 signatures. Westfield certainly hasn’t taken cues from customers imploring it to grow a conscience.
Allen is not the only male CEO we have called upon to address this rampant sexism. We have also lobbied Lendlease, AMP Capital, Vicinity Centres, The GPT Group, Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), Stockland, JLL and ISPT. We have asked how they can identify as “Male Champions of Change” – pledging to address sexism in their workplace – while facilitating sexism in their own properties as Honey Birdette’s landlords.
Sign the Petition – and join Bree and Penelope and 72,000 others calling on shopping centre CEOs to act!
