Local Collective Shout group takes action [UPDATED]
Members of the Collective Shout Group in Toowoomba have been actively opposing sexualised clothing items currently stocked in their local Roger David and City Beach stores.
City Beach
Roger David
The Collective Shout website has already highlighted the T.I.T.S (Two in the Shirt) t-shirt brand, which is available in City Beach stores. (Check out original post and discussion here.)
Letters were sent to various members within the City Beach Head Office, outlining disappointment that this retail chain was contributing to the prevalence of sexual messages in society. The purpose of these letters was not merely to communicate disapproval, but also to highlight the consequences of contributing to the early sexualisation of children and the objectification of women. A request was also made to discontinue the sale of this particular line of clothing.
The Collective Shout Toowoomba Group received a reply from Chris Somerville, City Beach Marketing Department. An excerpt from the letter:
We thank-you for bringing the concerns of Collective Shout to our attention and have engaged the City Beach buying teams in discussion regarding the points raised in your letter to ensure they are aware of your opinions on this matter.
We’d like to thank you for your feedback. As a retailer the feedback of our customers is extremely important to us as it provides valuable insight into what our customers do and do not like.
Unfortunately the shirts are still available for purchase.
While City Beach had the courtesy to reply to their correspondence, Roger David did not. Similar communication was sent to their head office, regarding their “Annie Hollywood” and “Blood is the New Black”, yet no reply was received.
Concerned that both stores were continuing to stock disturbing clothing lines, the Toowoomba group developed a new strategy – a boycott of both stores.
Posters were sent to each store, featuring the signatures and photographs of 50 young people who were unwilling to shop at either store until the offensive items were removed. Included on the posters (this one to Roger David):
Dear Roger David,
As young people of Toowoomba, we are deeply concerned by the highly sexualised clothing that is currently being sold in your store at the Grand Central Shopping Centre. We believe many of the men’s T-shirts sold in your store are demeaning to women and we don’t understand why you would choose to stock such a clothing style. Objectifying women is not art and it should not be labelled ‘trendy’. It is disgusting.
We’re in our teens. We are in our twenties and thirties – We’re not old prudes. We simply want something better for ourselves, our friends and our city.
We ask you to removed items such as the “Anne Hollywood” T-shirts and similar styles made by brands such as “Blood is the New Black” from your stores. We do not want to buy them, nor do we want to see them for sale in your shop. We’ve created this poster as a ‘protest’ against these items. We won’t be shopping in your store until these products are removed.
We ask that you carefully consider this matter and would greatly appreciate your response within 10 days.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned.
The 10 days have well and truly come and gone and the group has not received a response from Roger David. The poster sent to City Beach did not receive response, either.
Collective Shout would like to know why Roger David and City Beach feel comfortable in ignoring the concern of consumers. Perhaps they can afford to disregard the loss of 50 customers… but what if the boycott of their stores became more widespread? Would the loss of thousands of customers cause them to question the wisdom of stocking sexualised products?
Are you willing to shop elsewhere until these stores remove inappropriate items from their stores? Write to your local store and include a picture of yourself, advising them why you will no longer purchase from their store. Better yet, you could create a similar poster with a group of concerned friends. The greater the response, the greater the chance to move forward in cleaning up culture.
If you want to leave a comment at the City Beach or Roger David websites, please visit the links below:
City Beach Online Feedback Form
Roger David Online – visit contact us section
As always, if you do send either City Beach or Roger David a message, please also post in the comments below.
UPDATE 15/10/10
Collective Shout’s Toowoomba group have been working hard to get the message through to City Beach and Roger David, who don’t seem to have a problem with selling porn on a t-shirt to teenage boys. Today, this story appeared in The Chronicle.
T-SHIRTS featuring naked women, some bound and gagged with rope, have prompted a group of young people to boycott popular retail stores in Toowoomba.
Members of the Toowoomba branch of Collective Shout say they will not shop at Roger David or City Beach stores while they sold “highly sexualised clothing items”.
Collective Shout member Mark McErvale said the T-shirts objectified and sexualised women as well as promoted the pornography industry.
“Sexualisation in culture is a significant issue,” the 23-year-old said.
“It degrades women and girls and creates a false expectations in men and boys.
“The Collective Shout group is seeking to raise awareness and momentum among the community. We hope the community will join the push to see corporations cease stocking pornographic images on clothing.”
The range of clothing deemed offensive by the group includes a T-shirt with a women dressed in lingerie and high heels, behind an ironing board, as well as topless women in a bathtub full of breakfast cereal.
Fellow Collective Shout member Natasha Ballinger said T-shirts that showed gagged women had the potential to further traumatise rape or sexual assault victims. Read more at The Chronicle.
Later, the story goes national with Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Liszewski quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald.
An internet group opposed to the sexualisation of children has vowed to boycott stores in the Queensland rural city of Toowoomba over some of the T-shirts they are selling.
The shirts depict naked women, some bound and gagged with rope, and have prompted local members of Collective Shout to declare they will not shop at Roger David or City Beach stores while they sold highly sexualised clothing items.
Collective Shout spokeswoman Melinda Liszewski said the artwork on some of the clothes aimed at teenagers borrowed themes from pornography.
“City Beach’s main customer base would be teenagers or maybe early 20s, and they’re marketing these shirts which are just borrowing images from pornography and objectifying women,” Ms Liszewski told AAP on Friday. Read more at SMH.
As always there will be those who say ‘it’s just a t-shirt.’ We disagree, these t-shirts are a statement about women and girls. But it’s not just a t-shirt, not just a billboard, not just a music video or a magazine. It is the cumulative effect of the imagery and message that women’s bodies are there for men’s use that is detrimental to women and girls. Naturally, this message is also harmful to boys and men as Collective Shout member Mark McErvale articulated so well: “It degrades women and girls and creates a false expectations in men and boys.” To deny the impact of this imagery in our culture, is to deny the effect of advertising itself. Advertisers don’t spend billions of dollars a year on something that has no effect.
We invite City Beach and Roger David to pull sexist and degrading items from their stores and to make better decisions with their clothing range.
24 Comments
Nice work
Ugh, thats just disgusting. How do people think they can just disrespect us like that???
Great job, by the way, keep it up!!!
This is what I sent City Beach through their website. I sent a similar one to Roger David.
What would l like to see? Actually, it’s what I would not like to see that moves me to write. I have become aware that you stock men’s t-shirts with pictures of naked/semi-naked women on them. I find this highly offensive and will not be shopping at City Beach until I hear that these products have been removed. I currently need to buy myself a cap and wanted to buy my husband a Billabong collared shirt. Normally City Beach is the first place I would shop at, however, there is no way I want to go into your store with my two young sons and risk them seeing a product that is a blatant example of depicting women as a sex object. I endeavour to raise my boys as men who respect and value women. It is a concept I wish men who buy such offensive products to consider, but I also wish that they did not have the option to buy it in the first place. Come on City Beach, help make the world our kids grow up in a little bit more wholesome.
The images are terrible. I have sent the following message below (slightly altered) to Roger David and City Beach.
Hi, It has come to my attention that you sell men’s shirts with quite provocative pictures of women plastered over the shirt. What message is this shirt sending young people? Are women just an object of sex and desire? No we are not!!! How can I explain this shirt to my children? My husband has often frequented Rodger David for purchase of jackets and suits. How can we now enter your store with our innocent children? Please remove such disgusting sexist images from your stock.
Regards,
I have only just this week commended my local newsagent (Withcott) for removing offensive billboards promoting ‘men’s magazines’ from the front of their store – good on them for taking this stand!
I wish I could say the same for Roger David and City Beach. This is disgusting. How can you as human beings actually promote this sort of material in your stores? I am truly disgusted, and shall not visit these stores because of this.
Good work Collective Shout for bringing this to our attention. Keep up the good work.
Great work everyone! Really great to see those messages you are sending to City Beach and Roger David. And Ben, that is great news about the Newsagency. Was that in response to something you said to them? Or have they just made the changes on their own? Either way, great that you commended them for it. I think we need to go out of our way to deliver compliments as well as complaints.
Thanks for all your encouragement and support.
I have sent this message to Roger David, and a similar one to City Beach:
I was previously under the impression that Roger David was a well-respected men’s formal-wear store, but have recently become aware of several T-shirts for sale in your store depicting naked or semi-naked women. This is NOT acceptable merchandise for ANY store to be selling or displaying at all!! I’m utterly disgusted at the low standards you have set. Women are real people, and should be respected as such, not treated like sex objects for the pleasure of perverted men. It is bad enough to have these images shoved in our faces all over the internet – we do NOT want to be seeing it on T-shirts as well! It’s time people started respecting each other, raising their standards, and protecting the innocence of the children and families around us. I will be advising all of my friends to steer well clear of Roger David until all such content has been removed from the store. I look forward to receiving your prompt response on this pressing issue.
Hi again all
The local newsagent (Withcott) did this of their own accord – in speaking with them i found out they are Christians, and really strugle with selling the material, let alone advertising it, so at least they have taken one step in the right direction!
more good news – below is an email i have just sent to those who first put me onto the CS inintiative:
….I thought I would drop you all a quick note to encourage you to sign up for the Collective Shout initiative, but to also go one step further when you can!
Tonight I went to our local Target store, and while walking through the men’s clothing section I stumbled across a rack of ‘Rip Curl’ shirts standing in full view of passersby. One of these shirts had 4 pictures of the one naked lady repeated on the front of it, with a simple black bar covering the centre section of her breasts. I was quite shocked to see this at Target, and inspired by this Collective Shout initiative I went in search of a manager. Praise God – I actually found three managers standing talking to each other! All three followed me back to the rack of clothing, and when I pointed it out to them and told them I found it offensive they completely agreed and understood. The three managers immediately removed the shirts (about 20 or more) from the rack, and informed me they would take the shirts directly to the store manager. All three men openly agreed that those shirts should not be on display or for sale in a family store. So, congratulations to Target in Toowoomba for happily agreeing with a customer to remove offending material.
Can I encourage you all to take it up with local store managers if you see offensive items, as well as join the Collective Shout.
Can I also encourage you to give praise were praise is due – the other day I realised that our local newsagent was no longer displaying pornographic magazine advertising outside the front of their store, so I went in to the store and congratulated them on removing that sort of material – sadly, it turns out I was the first person to have congratulated them on taking this stand. Can I encourage you all to give praise to stores that do change their ways if you see it to encourage them to continue to do a good job.
Together let’s try and clean this country up.
Hey Ben that is fantastic. We completely agree that it is very important to deliver compliments as well as complaints. When we see people doing the right thing, we should let them know that we’ve noticed.
A very fast response from Target indeed! Good on you.
Thank you for taking the time to post this good news item Ben, it will no doubt inspire others to do the same.
Well, since you’re asking what it is that I’d like to see, I’d have to say that I’d LOVE to see the complete removal of ALL the porn images currently stocked and being advertised / sold off in your stores as “t-shirts”. Having been a devoted customer of Toowoomba City Beach since early days of trade began on the ground floor at Grand Central, I have “invested” literally thousands of dollars into the surfing label empire. Whilst professional management and sales staff tragically deteriorated over the years to the point of extinction I continued to persevere and endure my shopping experiences for the sole purpose of purchasing fashion that my family and I enjoy wearing. However, once again I’m faced with having to re-assess my loyalty as a customer due to the continual subjection to images of a pornographic nature that blatantly promote the sexualisation and degradation of women. Seriously…I’m over it! Oh…and one more thing…you might like to consider the following statement taken from the YouTube clip currently playing on your home page: http://www.citybeach.com.
“Give me something I can believe in….it’s in your hands”
City Beach – it’s in YOUR hands to provide a service and a product consumers can believe in.
Regards,
Tana Blair
My husband and sons were in the market for suits this year for numerous formal events requiring our attendance. Overwhelmed with negative reports concerning the choice of merchandise Roger David was stocking, we didn’t even bother venturing into the store. The merchandise in question was reported to be offensive and degrading of women. Once again, I find myself in the position of having to purchase a suit for my son for his school formal and once again the feed back re Roger David merchandise remains the same. Sadly, like so many other retail providers, the once reputable name of Roger David appears to becoming a thing of the past.
Tana Blair
Here was the comment I left for City Beach:
I would like to see products that don’t portray women as objects for the use and sexual gratification of men. Your current range of mens t-shirts depicting semi-naked women in degrading positions are disgusting. You are directly contributing to a culture that tells women the only thing they have to offer the world is their sexual appeal and that they exist solely for the pleasure of men. I’d suggest that you remove these t-shirts from your stores immediately. I will be telling all my friends about the kind of filth you choose to stock in your stores. Anyone looking at your website would find it hard to believe we live in the 21st century where women are supposed to be ‘equals’ to men. Wake up to yourselves!
In today’s Chronicle I read a story that showed anti-women shirts. As a father of a 4 year old girl I care deeply about caring and looking after women and am angry that Roger David is capitalising on the abuse of women by selling these shirts.
Over the years I have been a loyal Roger David customer. I just checked my wardrobe and I have 5 Roger David suits hanging up. For my wedding I had six groomsmen and we all purchased suits from Roger David…. and each year I probably spend about $500 on various jackets, shirts and trousers.
This will now all stop as in the future I will be boycotting Roger David stores until you clean up your act and stop abusing the status and dignity of women.
For me to return as a customer you will need to imediately stop selling these tshirts and release a public apology.
Hi All, Have joined the fight and sent this email off to City Beach
Dear City Beach,
I am a 26-year-old women who has just come across a number of shirts by brand “Two in the shirt”. I am utterly disgusted, offended and angry at the images portrayed. This feedback form has appeared at the best possible time! I find these t-shirts demeaning and offensive, especially as they are something that people wear publically. I believe you have people of all ages shop at your store and online and would like to ask if you think “Two in the Shirt Foreplay Tee” is appropriate for 12-year-old males and females to see? I can not believe how disappointed I am. I am definitely posting something to all my facebook friends about the sort of image you are sending. A message about body image, a message that women are sexual objects, a message that these images are appropriate.
Badly done City Beach, very badly done. Instead of encouraging young people to love people of all sizes and shapes you are sending a very clear image of what is appropriate, what is acceptable and how women should be treated. I will no longer be shopping at City Beach.
Loving the concept here.
I’ve been often pretty shocked by what is on display in some clothing stores, and on magazine racks well visible to children entering service stations. Up until now the most I’ve done is turned all the magazines back to front each time I walk past an offensive display. Might be time to do something more.
What should we have to put up with sexualised depiction of anyone when we walk into a service station, or supermarket, or clothing store. Lets speak up. Lets make our voices heard.
This is a moronic moral stand that you are all taking here.
While I partly admire your desire to make your world more fair and equal, you are all acting with the kind of tenacious stupidity and narrowmindedness usually reserved for the political elite.
There is a GIGANTIC difference between art and porn, especially art that is simply satirising male fantasy of marriage (in the case of one of the shirts sold by City Beach, which I would think acceptable to wear in public).
I also find it pretty disgusting that not a single person, here or on the parent article which linked me here (http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/who-needs-porn-when-youve-got-mtv/), had a single mention of the 70s British band Roxy Music, the cover art of their 4th album ‘Country Life’ being the image depicted on one of the Roger David shirts.
Is it still porn? Or is it art? The lack of research into the situation made by people who have lended their voice to this endless campaign of overblown PC-ness upsets me more than the t-shirts ever could, because it reminds me of how reactionary our society and our politics are becoming.
If you are one of the individuals worrying about your children’s participation in the patronage of the stores, I say that it is YOUR involvement in your child’s development that I am truly concerned about.
And to those of you taking up this ‘fight’ in a bid to give women equal rights to men, why don’t you stop trivialising the issue to pathetically minimal problems like this one and actually take on a problem with some real gravity: fight for equal pay, fight for maternity AND paternity leave, but whatever you do, pick a fight that will actually matter and stick to it… because this fight is a joke.
Todd,
A lot of pornographic and violent imagery has been produced in the name of ‘art’ this does not minimise the impact of such imagery on those who are exposed to it, including the youngest and most vulnerable amoung us. See resources for more information about the effect on young people, particularly girls.
Roger David and City Beach aren’t selling these items as an art piece, they are selling them because porn and violence on t-shirts are ‘so hot right now.’
We are well informed with Roxy Music and ‘Country Life’ and always have been. However we are constantly re-informed by those who think they are the first to tell us about it and who think that this changes any of the points we have made.
Your last paragraph is a massive assumption ie. that those who are concerned about these issues are neglectful of the ones you have cited. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
‘Everything in moderation’, as the saying goes….
Only I think we have drasticly different opinions of what “moderate” is and whether sex can be moderate.
While undoubtedly the problems you speak of do have an unsavoury effect on our nation’s youth, I am not sure that these shirts are really effecting children as strongly as you purport. You cast around journal articles by respected psychologists on the issue of child sexualisation, but have you BEEN to a Roger David lately? Their shirts retail at around $70, with the shirts becoming more expensive as the licensing of their imagery becomes for profitable, and at present, nothing is more profitable than ‘retro’ and the music of older generations.
While being a fan of Roxy Music myself and in particular the ‘Country Life’ album, I can’t afford to spend that kind of money on a shirt. And I don’t think a 13yr old could either.
So either you propose that:
a) children are out there perusing the overpriced racks of high-end clothing retailers like Roger David, looking at sexualised imagery, or
b) you are proposing that the children are shopping at these stores, and are actually buying these items….both are equally ludicrous.
And in either case, the issue then becomes more about the parents and what they are doing with their own time to protect their children (other than joining online morality brigades).
Hi again Todd,
Is it unreasonable that parents might take their children shopping with them? Should they expect to see this in a Roger David store or a City Beach store?
I ask because you use the words ‘protect’ children. The implication is that children shouldn’t go shopping with their parents.
However, you don’t have to go into a Roger David or City Beach store to see these shirts. People buy the shirts in order to wear them Todd. There is a disturbing trend in people turning themselves into virtual billboards for pornography and violent imagery. There are a lot of options with clothing, it is disturbing that this is the image that people are choosing to project and others are choosing to sell. Collective Shout challenges these choices.
Just recently there was another t-shirt for sale in Mt Isa, a bound and gagged woman, blood splattered with the words ‘relax it’s just sex.’ Displayed in a shop window of course, but if purchased displayed wherever the wearer chooses to be. I suppose all the shop owner needs to do is label it ‘art’ and suddenly it’s ok? The woman who complained about the shirt should have left her kids at home yes?
As to your final comment – it is not only parents concerned with these issues. Adults with no children can see the objectification and the suggestion of violence in these images. It is our experience that parents are concerned about these issues because they *do* value and care for their children, even if critics like to suggest (ad nauseum) that these concerns are only shared by irresponsible parents.
Todd,
I’m very sorry to have to say that you simply do not get it. I’m no prude, not frigid, uptight, PC, or a philistine who doesn’t understand art; I enjoy a healthy intimacy with my husband, I don’t have children towards whom I am irresponsible etc. etc. I still find these images extremely offensive, vulgar, unnecessary and, as a victim of sexual assault and violence the images of bound and gagged women, particularly the one with the slogan “Relax, it’s just sex” (released by Hustler, I don’t know if it is on sale at City Beach et al), are deeply distressing. Each time I see one of these images I re-experience the violence, the humiliation and degradation. Don’t ever try to tell me or any one who has ever experienced similar assault that these images are not harmful. They are not art.
Hey all, apart from the dialogue with Todd I’m really encouraged by all your comments, and to know that so many other people are contacting City Beach and Roger David about these wretched tee shirts.
For myself I intend to keep complaining to the stores and letting others know, in the hope that these shirt will be withdrawn from sale.
i have just received an email back from city beach, im happy they didnt just send me a reply that is done by computer. in my email to them i pretty much mentioned how they used to be great and what i feel these shirts are doing to not only their store but the community! i have sent a similar email to the brand Unit and received a pathetic response. i am happy that they are looking into it and im sure after the amount of complaints about them, they wouldnt want the bad rep. hopefully everyones effort pays off! if not we just gotta keep on at it.
from City beach:
Thank-you for getting in contact with us regarding your concerns about these products.
The outcome of your complaint is that your feedback has been passed through to the City Beach buying teams and Visual Merchandising.
These people are committed to delivering a balanced portfolio of the product that we stock, and how that product is displayed in-store.
Your e-mail has also been forwarded to the people at the brand Unit.
We receive a lot of customer feedback about the product we stock. There is a lot of feedback, both positive and negative, about these particular products.
When all the feedback we receive from our customers, both positive and negative, is taken into account prior to the new season, the City Beach
Buying teams will make decisions about the direction of the product mix for the upcoming season.
We can assure you that, having received your e-mail, your view will be taken into consideration.
Yours faithfully,
City Beach
Customer Service
ha speaking of Roger David I have just spent $160 at Roger David at Robina to find that not only was the store manager rude and insolent but the state mgr was also rude and insolent. I had bought a pair of shoes to find the length ok but the width too tight.
I wore them once and was shunned with its our policy bah blah and an attempt at quoting OHS legislatin, When asked under what section of the OHS Act 2000 I was not given an answer…..I bought my first suit there and well my last purchase at this poor attempt at a mens store. so I suspect you will not get a reply.. from them…
Signed Disillusioned. Back to Florsheim where the woman is a gem and knows customer service….Oh well what does one expect when their core market is Gen Y who prefer online purchasing.
If these images were in the workplace they would be considered to be sexual harassment. Why should it be any different on the streets?
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