Supre told us before Christmas they were withdrawing their “Santa’s bitch” t.shirts for girls.
Now we find out they are flogging them off for $5.
Why tell us one thing and then do the opposite? Were any t.shirts actually removed as promised?
Let Supre know how you feel about being misled. Contact H.R Manager Karen Hermann khermann@supre.com.au
On a more positive note, it’s good to see NSW Premier Kristina Keneally come out on the issue. She said in the Daily Telegraph: “Children should remain children. These T-shirts are overtly sexual and they’re inappropriate. We want to live in a society that values young women – and creates positive images for their development.”
Tell the Premier you appreciate her stand.
Ph: (02) 9228 5239, email: premier@nsw.gov.au
Couldn’t resist including this gutsy critique of Supre. Great line, “An army of slut clones”
9 Responses
Karen,
I’ve been to some supre stores. You’re still selling the sluttified-Santa’s-Bitch tops. Now for the low, low price of $5. So these innocent children can wear these tops next year? To let the stupidity continue. When one of the girls at my local store was asked why the tops were still for sale, she replied “that head office (that’s you guys) has instructed us to continue selling the tops, despite public resistance as they’re this season’s best seller”. That is a direct quote. Um? ‘scuse me?
Grow some corporately responsible balls.
What happened to actually removing them? Why are they still in my range of vision? More importantly, why are they still adding to the poor quality-mass-produced-toxicity already available in Supre? My understanding was that you had made a commitment to remove them from sale. Yet they are still here. This is both confusing and frustrating for me. Either you’re too lazy to remove them, have absolutely no sense of corporate responsibility, or you’re enjoying sexualising little girls for your own amusement and satisfaction.
There are many questions which need answering. I await your reply with anticipation.
Noelle.
Great letter Noelle!
Here is mine:
Dear Karen,
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/premier-kristina-keneally-gets-shirty-at-supre-t-shirt-slogans-santas-bitch-north-pole-dancer/story-e6freuy9-1225816054764
Either you lied or the people working for you are not following your directions. Santa’s Bitch now available for $5? What is going on? I can assure you that this information will be circulated widely. Perhaps you would like to take the opportunity to respond first.
re: your previous message that nobody in the company thinks anyone should be labelled a bitch – you’ve labelled a lot of young girls with that term over the christmas period. Actions speak louder than words.
Melinda
Or we could just do what I did the other week when I was in Canberra:
http://tinypic.com/r/e85tmg/6
to…
http://tinypic.com/r/28cf24o/6
=O
where’s it gone?!??!
Dear Premiere,
I welcome your comments in the press speaking out against inappropriate clothing in Supre clothing stores.
As a Catholic you know that Santa was not about sexual slavery but actually based on St Nicholas who gave the gold coins to the women to keep them out of slavery.
What laws can the NSW government enact to protect our young daughters from further assault on their innocence? We have seen similar acts by clothing being available
in the Cotton-on stores which MP for Hornsby Greg Donnelly spoke out about.
What can you do at the next meeting of state premiere’s and prime minister of Australia to protect our daughters from this garbage being available to our children?
As our elected representative we expect you to protect our daughters from this inapproriate material being available at point of sale in Australian clothing stores.
I look forward to your answers to my letter.
well done Noelle….thanks for sharing the pics! Fantastic.
Dear Karen
I have just been made aware that Supre is still selling the offensive t-shirts ‘Santa’s Bitch’ and ‘Naughty girls get more presents’, but now at a discounted price.
In your email dated Tuesday 22 December you stated we “will rectify the issue” and “we are taking the necessary action to rectify for our customers benefits”, was this just PR spin of did you genuinely intend to do the right thing and remove these t-shirts from sale????
It is very very concerning that Supre has happily become Corporate Paedophiles, your attitude towards the young women you target is reprehensible. Your marketing approach of grooming young women as sexual objects is similar to that of Robert Dolly Dunn!
I can assure you that me and my network of friends we will never shop at Supre, and we will never allow our daughters to shop at Supre. We will ensure everyone we know is made aware that Supre does not value women, and thinks the objectification of women is acceptable!
Karen, you should be ashamed that you lied and ashamed that you have contributed to the problem of sexualisation and objectification of women!
Please explain why you blatantly lied about Supre’s intention to remove these t-sh
I have just added the comments below to the Kids Free 2B Kids website. The lack of corporate social responsibility around the issue of the sexualisaton of kids is astonishing.
And let’s also not forget that after a long Freedom of Information process with the Office of Childrens Guardian in NSW, Kids Free 2B Kids discovered that David Jones and their advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi deliberately sexualised two young girls (10 & 12 yr old) in the Alison Ashley Clothing Advertisement….
“They are 10 and 12, so slightly more adult and sexy”
Here we go again with irresponsible retailers selling inappropriate slogan t-shirts to teens and tweens. We’ve seen it before and unless retailers start getting the message that adult sexualised themes are not acceptable for kids, it will continue. Supre’s Santa’s Bitch and North Pole Dancer slogans perpetuate the sexualised messages young girls are bombarded with in their contemporary media environment.
Quoting from the Daily Telegraph 5/1/10
But the tops, on sale at tweenie chain Supre, have earned the ire of (NSW) Premier Kristina Keneally.
“Children should remain children. These T-shirts are overtly sexual and they’re inappropriate. We want to live in a society that values young women – and creates positive images for their development,” she said.
Kids Free 2B kids welcomes Premier Keneally’s comments. She joins a fast increasing groundswell of people in the community who have had enough – including high profile child development professionals.
Kids Free 2B Kids and others contacted Supre management before Christmas and understood that the slogan t-shirts were being withdrawn.
We note with interest that the withdrawal of products by Supre and in the past Cotton On and Target, is more like… “Tell them we’ll withdraw it to get them off our backs…but actually let’s see how much money we can make by putting it out for sale. ”
When retailers who specifically market to teens and children don’t care about the impact on their target market – something needs to change!
When it comes to kids – voluntary codes and self regulation don’t work.
i think we’re being ignored. has anyone else received a response? i haven’t.
Did Supre really think this would go unnoticed?
I’m insulted on so many levels – to be lied to by Supre and considered stupid enough not to notice I’d been lied to!