Keep the global brand of the porn industry off our girls – boycott Diva
Diva, the jewellery and accessories store popular with teenage girls, is now selling Playboy branded jewellery.
Through use of cute love heart logos, invitations to ‘BFF us on Facebook’ and girls magazine promos, Diva are directly marketing to young girls. So why is Diva wanting to dress them up in a Pornography brand?
‘Playboy’ is not just a ‘cute bunny’, but represents the global brand of the pornography industry. We’ve previously written about how Playboy has infiltrated the mainstream market creating brand familiarity with young people. Playboy is now branding bed sheets, make up and even energy drinks. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has previously said “I don’t care if a baby holds up a Playboy bunny rattle.” What is then forgotten is Playboy’s core business – pornography.
Among the other Playboy items on sale at Diva is a playboy bunny ‘bowtie’ necklace. Presumably for little girls who want to look like ‘Playboy Bunnies?’ What is Diva thinking?
Diva announced their new Playboy range on Facebook and received some negative responses:
Some of the comments include:
‘Ok so I’m not being a prude (my job is in the adult industry) but playboy is PORN…. Nude magazines, porn films… Ect and i know that diva is REALLY popular amongst girls aged like what 9-16? Diva should be about encouraging girls to empower themselves and their individuality. Not letting a girl aged 14 to year a bunny necklace that shows all she wants to do in life is be a dumb blonde who wants to be in porn and get with an old guy. Seriously diva, thought SO much better than this tacky crap….’
‘Totally agree Nadine. I have two little girls and they were my thoughts also.‘
‘Very disappointed. Will look totally off sitting next to the Disney princess section.’
Take Action!
Write to Diva here: contact@diva.net.au
You can let them know what you think on their Facebook page here.
Tweet them on Twitter here.
Phone them: 02 9938 3311 or 1300 348 228
More contact details for Diva can be found here.
Tell Diva to withdraw their Playboy range or you will boycott their store.
[UPDATED] Petition Launched calling on Diva to remove all Playboy products from sale. Please sign the petition here.
20 Comments
As someone who works with teens & pre-teens I’m very concerned about this. I not only shop there myself but have recommended and taken some of the girls I work with there on shopping sprees. I also often buy birthday presents there. I can’t believe they would partner with a brand that makes it’s money by objectifying women.
I certainly won’t be shopping there until they stop selling Playboy – I’ve emailed them and told them so. Hopefully they will take serious the effect they can have on a generation of girls and remove all things playboy from their stores.
I have the privilege of addressing 1000s of girls and young women a year. As of tomorrow I will be adding DIVA to my presentation exposing companies who participate in the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls for profit and encouraging my audience to boycott DIVA immediately.
Our girls have enough issues with sexuality growing up. Now something else to confuse them into figuring out who they are. How does a parent keep up?
As a teacher and a mother to two daughters I am repulsed by this. It is no surprise unfortunately. This line is just as demented as those who sexualize everything in our media. From primetime tv to lipgloss, kids are targeted. Right now, 8 out of 10 men have participated on the viewing of porn. Sexually based crimes are up 43% from 2001, 51% of all marriages end in divorce and every 18 minutes a teen becomes pregnant in this nation….and we wonder?
I just received a response back from the managing director of Diva who tried to fob me off by saying
“It is certainly never diva’s intention to offend any of our customers. We are a fashion brand that is following a fashion trend.”
I’m not going to let this go, and have asked for her to call me so that we can discuss it further. I’ll let you know how I go.
I spoke with Bianca, general manager of diva yesterday. She said due to overwhelming positive response, the playboy brand items will not be removed. Is she kidding? I wonder if she has looked at the fb page recently. Call her on 0417 027 906
Caitlin,
I emailed Diva and received a similar response from Bianca (Diva GM). I replied as follows…
Dear Bianca,
I’m not sure you actually appreciate how innapropriate the Diva/Playboy pairing is.
I tried to explain to my 10 year old this morning why we would not even enter your shop. It’s very difficult to explain pornography in an age appropriate way to a 10 year old!!!
I came home and googled Playboy.com and couldn’t believe what I saw!!!
This is not a situation where parents can simply explain what’s behind the symbol.
It’s pornography and your store is now contributing to the sexualisation of our young girls.
You should be ashamed…
Caitlin,
I also had a similarly lame response from the GM at Diva…I’ve sent another email…It’s very frustrating to hear the feedback that says we, as parents, are responsible for vetting these products (see my experience this morning below)
However it’s so positive to read all the comments from concerned people on Diva’s FB page…
Dear Bianca,
I’m not sure you appreciate how innapropriate the Diva/Playboy pairing is.
I tried to explain to my 10 year old this morning why we would not even enter your shop. It’s very difficult to explain pornography in an age appropriate way to a 10 year old!!!
I came home and googled Playboy.com and couldn’t believe what I saw!!!
This is not a situation where parents can simply explain what’s behind the symbol.
It’s pornography and your store is now contributing to the sexualisation of our young girls.
You should be ashamed….
I have 2 children and I am actually one of the few who see nothing wrong with this. The Playboy brand is about much more than nudie pictures and many of the girls who are part of Playboy are not only intelligent and college graduates, but also do what they can to give back to their community, help special causes across the globe, and also, let’s face it, they are beautiful. If your children already know what Playboy is, chances are, they have seen other movies, tv shows, etc. that are much worse than Playboy. I think there are much more important issue which we, as parents, should focus. Get over it and move onto something that actually makes a difference in kids’ lives.
I am a parent to two girls, and was brought up to speed on the Playboy brand by watching Girls of the Playboy Mansion on Foxtel. I did not notice any of them trying to advocate world peace … but rather, their personal advancement pursuant an obvious contractual arrangement with a man old enough to be their great grand father. Please see my email to Diva below:
“Dear Diva,
I am writing to express my outrage at your stores selling this range – aimed at young girls.
Are you trying to encourage young girls that they should aspire to be the next Holly, Brigitte or Kendra?? Dumb blonde trailer trash who get massive breast implants, labiaplasties, anal bleaching, dyed blonde hair and then sign who knows what sort of contract with a man 4 times their own age – to be his “girlfriend” for a predetermined length of time in order to get an easier life for themselves??
Shame on you Diva, shame, shame shame.
Withdraw this trash please from your shelves and cancel the Playboy agreement.”
Mom of 2 Kiddos,
I agree wholeheartedly that the Playboy brand is about much more than nudie pictures. It’s also about gonzo films, brutal body-punishing sex, and the exploitation of women’s bodies for profit and the sexual pleasure of others.
Playboy WANT children to like the branding without knowing what it represents. The WANT us to think that their cute little bunny doesn’t sexualise children and that there are more important issues out there.
I hope that you might one day come to see that fighting to keep the sex industry from preying on children is something that may actually make a difference in their lives.
Any company that promotes Playboy products is promoting the porn industry – it’s that simple. Playboy have been incredibly successful at mainstreaming their brand.
Diva – get with it – this is a mistake and it needs to be acknowleged. It took ‘Cotton On’ a number of months to accept that they had crossed the line when they sold adult sexualised humour on childrens t-shirts. They eventually withdrew 40,000 items of clothing Australia wide and acknowleged that their buyers had got it wrong.
Diva – your buyers have got it wrong big time.
The Sexualisation of children and young teens is harmful and as long as you are promoting Playboy products to teens – you are contributing to that harm.
Girlfriend magazine withdrew all advertising of Playboy products in 2008 after campaiging by Kids Free 2B Kids.
Selling and promoting porn industry products to children and teens is utterly shameful.
Kids Free 2B Kids supports this boycott by Collective Shout.
Diva has sunk our mainstream society to a new low with their sleazy products .Will the soul of our nation awaken to this outrageous violation of our childrens priceless innocence ?
Hi Caitlin,
The Diva Facebook Fan page has had a TON of negative feedback but what Bianca is trying to say is there’s WAY more positive feedback about the Playboy range. Enough for it not to be removed.
Hi Sophie,
I would say the attitude of management is that there is ‘way more’ money to be made by keeping the range. Those giving the ‘positive feedback’ would be largely unaware of what the Playboy brand represents, (understandable given the age of the market). This makes Diva’s actions even more sinister. The girls and young women purchasing these items are unaware they are wearing a brand that view them as ‘bitches’ ‘sluts’ and ‘fresh and juicy lolitas.’ (name of a Playboy produced hardcore porno.)
Incidentally Sophie, if Diva’s young customers google ‘Diva Playboy’ the first search result produces “Divas in Playboy, Ass shots, Diva’s exposed.”
You might like to take the Playboy quiz:
http://binthebunny.wordpress.com/quiz/
None of this would be ok even if there were a tonne of positive feedback.
I am outraged that Diva is selling the global pornography brand Playboy to teenage girls. Promoting the Playboy brand is promoting the porn industry, a truly terrible industry.
I sent the following email to Diva:
“To Whom it May Concern,
I am writing to express my disgust that Diva is selling the Playboy brand to girls and teenagers. How could Diva possibly imagine that it is acceptable to sell the global pornography brand to teenage girls?
I am appalled at Diva’s actions and now consider Diva to be socially irresponsible and a bad influence on girls. I will be boycotting Diva and spreading the word amongst my family and friends to do the same.
Regards,
Bronwyn”
I just received the following response from the General Manager at Diva. It just says they didn’t intend to offend any of their customers by releasing this range.
I’m sure what they did intend was to make a lot of money; and I’m sure what Playboy did intend by partnering with Diva was to ‘mainstream’ and normalise their brand with girls from a young age. So basically Diva and Playboy are complicit in this plot to target young girls and teenagers. How insidious!!!
“Hi Bronwyn,
My name is Bianca Ginns and I am the General Manager for diva.
Diva certainly didn’t intend to offend any of our customers by releasing this range.
We thank you for taking the time to contact us with your comments.
Regards,
Bianca Ginns
General Manager”
The negative feedback was articulate, polite, and from a growing number of men, women and teens. It over-ran the page. It has now been almost completely removed and all dissenters have been blocked. Interesting, using Orwellian reminiscent techniques to protect their grubby, cynical, sleazy hip pockets. Just like Heff would have advised.
I am astounded by the ignorance, which is what companies like playboy thrive on (look up subliminal messages and marketing strategies). One day this girls will grow up from the cute tops etc, to the sexy undies, to maybe aspiring to be bunnies or even getting a cute tattoo of the Playboy logo, as Mr. Hefner would wish. Think of Mercedes. Audi and BMW creating ‘cheap’ small cars for small pockets that one day may be bigger pockets that can afford their more dearer products. I was introduced to sex by images on TV, and pornography, the first Oral sex scene I saw was on a playboy mag. back in the early 80′s, aged 11 or 12, the lady on her knees did not look like enjoying it much, and the man standing grabbing at her hair looked to be more punishing than ‘sharing’ a moment of intimacy etc. I’m sure he reached a happy ending, the woman… well she was probably just left with a sour taste in her mouth! Young minds are being slowly conditioned to accept this as the norm, what are the better known ‘celebrities’ of the day known for Kim K.-sex tape, former top female celebrity Paris Hilton-sex tape and the former uber sex icon Pammy Anderson – sure Baywatch, but -her ‘stolen’ Sextape gave her unprecedented notoriety, and how proud are we of our Melbourne Cup, that we import and pay these people hundreds of thousands to ‘grace us’ with their presence!. WE as a society are now accepting this. Lets not allow our children (girls) to be conditioned or groomed by these sexual perpetrators, Diva, thank you for putting profits… sorry overwhelming positive response (aka lots of sales), before ethical responsibility. Lets boycott them all together whether they remove the products or not, as well as the companies that enrichen our ill fitted role models., after all do we forgive child molesters after they are outed!?. Thank you collective shout, from a Father of two beautiful girls and an equally beautiful wife and mother.
Oh come off it – I think everyone is getting carried away a little.
I have a 13 year old that loves to shop Diva. I asked her today if she knew what the logo was and she said “no”. I explained it to her and she replied “Eww. Gross.”
If she HAD known exactly what it meant I would have said the fault lay with me as parent for not controlling what she watched or read etc. As it is she has managed to hit 13 without seeing the kind of porn/women degrading antics associated with Playboy.
So i reckon if your kid knows what it means, then you should be looking at your own lifestyle to see where the exposure came from. If your kid doesn’t know what it means, it’s time for a lecture on values related to women in our society.
Diva isn’t a kids shop. It doesn’t pretend to have any educational value or ethical stance. It’s a business so it’s there to make money. I don’t understand why anyone would comment “They are only there to make money.” Well, duh!
A couple of friends of young teens have expressed their outrage about this. And yet allow their kids to watch shows on TV sexulaising teens, allow them to surf the net without monitoring them, allow them to join Facebook and create email accounts over which they have no control – need I go one? I am sure many people voicing their opinion on here have as little idea of what their 12-16 year old girls are up to as my friends do.
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