We expose the shops flogging sexist clothes that tell boys they’re geniuses – and girls that they’re cute
High street stores are under fire from parents for pushing gender stereotypes on young children. Fabulous looks at how the shops are getting it wrong
BRITISH footwear brand Clarks has really put its foot in it with its new back-to-school range.
Outraged parents quickly flooded Twitter with complaints such as: “Dolly Babe range for girls? C’mon Clarks don’t you understand how offensive this is? Dolly? Babe?”
Clarks quickly apologised and removed Dolly Babe from its website – though the brand damage was already done.
KARA DOLMAN looks at some other firms which have recently faced accusations of gender stereotyping.
Mothercare
Kidswear chain Mothercare came under fire for an ad campaign featuring girl models dressed as Fifties housewives, complete with hair rollers, pinafores and vacuums.
Its children’s clothing includes boys’ jumpers with words such as Genius, while girls’ items have words such as Confetti, Glitter and Sparkle.
Mothercare said: “We offer a wide range of products, including a number of unisex collections, to provide our customers with choice.
“Following a recent complaint on our Space Oddity collection we updated the copy on our website, as we agree that this collection should be enjoyed by both boys and girls.”
Aside from clothing, it added: “Our aim is to offer a wide range of toys to appeal to the many different tastes and play interests of little ones.
"We feature both boys and girls playing with many different toys.”
Gap
Last summer, Gap didn’t help the argument for future gender pay gap issues with an advert that went awry.
The high street giant released an image of a boy wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Albert Einstein’s face and labelled him “the little scholar” next to a girl wearing pink labelled “the social butterfly”.
To add insult to injury, the campaign added next to the boy: “Your future starts here.”
The girl’s clothes were described as “the talk of the playground”.
Gap declined to comment.
Asda
A quick dash around the high street found a dramatic difference in the type of slogans on boys’ and girls’ clothing.
These George at Asda tops say Future Scientist on the boy’s and Hey Cutie on the girl’s – so we got our models to swap in the interests of equality.
Asda said: “Our aim is to make clothes people love, never to offend.”
Tesco
Clarks isn’t the only brand with two left feet when it comes to school shoes.
Supermarket Tesco has also recently come under attack for branding a boys’ pair as “Airtred” for playground activities while the female version was called “Sensitive Sole” – no further explanation needed there.
But in case you missed that subtle point, the girls’ shoe soles also featured a pink butterfly while the male ones got a fierce dinosaur instead.
The only thing that should be extinct here is Tesco’s attitude.
Tesco said: “We have listened to feedback from our customers and have updated the wording on our website.”
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Early Learning Centre
Gender stereotypes are rife in fancy-dress clothes.
Earlier this year, the Early Learning Centre unveiled pictures of girls in princess dresses who were “ready to go to the ball” while Danny the doctor was “here to save the day”.
The Early Learning Centre said: “At ELC our aim is to offer a wide enough range to appeal to the many different tastes and play interests of little ones.
“We feature both boys and girls playing with many different toys and dressing-up outfits.”
Morrisons
Morrisons had its sexism shown up when one irritated shopper snapped a picture of the supermarket’s childrenswear on display in one of its stores and posted it on Facebook.
While packs of boys’ T-shirts were printed with slogans such as King of the Castle and Little Man Big Dreams, the girls’ shirts were printed with Pretty Little Me and Little Girl Big Smiles.
Despite the evidence, a Morrisons spokesman said: “We strongly disagree with all forms of sexism.”
