Harmless Fun?????????
I’m not usually one to get controversial, especially here on my blog. But this has gotten me so riled up that I really wanted to use my “voice” to say “hang on, do we really have to ACCEPT this as harmless fun?”
For years now I have noticed many parents attempting to swim against the tidal wave of inappropriate fashion targetting their young children. Finding clothing for a 6 year old that doesn’t dress her to look 16 sure isn’t easy these days.
At what point do we say enough is enough? Megan Bayliss has posted an article on her blog about Little Losers, a range of t-shirts being sold by Jay Jays.
I’m not 100% sure on the market that Jay Jays are selling to but let’s for a minute contemplate how it is even legal to sell a t-shirt that says “Mr Pimp” on it? Did I miss something or has pimping suddenly become socially acceptable??? What about legal???
You only have to be 16 to work in these stores. What are we saying to these young people when we PAY them to sell a t-shirt that says “Miss Wasted” or “Mr Drunk”? Here we are spending money and time trying to fight social problems like underage drinking and drink driving while the fashion industry says “whatever, let’s just make a joke of it”.
I want to say to them. “IT’S NOT FUNNY!!!!”
Usually I would shy away from giving negative publicity as they say that any publicity is good publicity for a company. But come on Jay Jays, give us parents a break!!!
Come on parents - it’s time to use our voice and tell the world that there is a line in what we’ll accept. Let’s make it clear that this really IS. NOT. FUNNY.
Please read Megan’s article and use your voice to tell Jay Jays that we won’t sit by and let them think that this is acceptable!!!!
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Lightening thanks so much for loaning your parent voice. This is an excellent post and I’ve stumbled it for you.
You are right about even negative publicity being good publicity, but, by raising awareness in parent circles rather than the full on fashion seeking circles, we are infiltrating at a very powerful level - parents of pre teens may well decide not to shop at Jay Jays.
The Tees are being sold forthe tween and teens market and fit some younger adults. At a time when the young peoples hormones are changing and they are becoming interested in knowing about sex and developmental cultural milestones (getting drunk on coolers, for example) we need to give them strong and positive messages about their identity about making healthy and respectful choices and about the absolute sanctity of their body. Telling them they are a bitch, a drunk or a pimp is just not on.
I agree with you - NOT FUNNY. I am insulted by them in fact and they work against everything I do in teaching protective behaviours.
Jay Jays has stepped over the mark and they are making fools of parents and kids - but only because many parents buy the Tees to keep their kids trendy and happy.
As a parent of 4 (plus 2 foster kids), Jay Jays has long been a place I shopped because they are trendy and affordable. They’ve now lost my purchasing power.
Who else will join the parent boycott?
These t-shirts are marketed to kids aged 12-17 and one teenager told me the tees are available in small sizes. So we can assume kids even younger than 12 can wear them.
A couple of months ago Feministing in the United States urged their readers to contact Wal-Mart to pull a pair of girls panties from sale. The panties with the slogan “Who Needs Credit Cards?…” printed on the crotch were pulled from sale by Wal-Mart 24 hours later. So if enough parents complain, Jay Jays may be pressured to take these tees off the shelves.
I am so glad my kids aren’t at that age yet and that you guys are making a stand now!! Thank you for what you’re doing, it’s so important for the kids of today.
OMG!! I am soooooooooooo digusted!!! We don’t have a Jay Jays here, but I will certainly NOT be shopping there when I go out of town.
That makes my blood boil. It’s bad enough that I have such limited range in dressing my daughters without them looking like 22 year old pub whores in their tween/teen years without making a joke of pimping, drunkeness or whatnot.
I shall be circulating this to some of my email lovies who will no doubt also spread the word.
That’s so disgusting in light of the fact that teens…AND TWEENS!!! shop there!
I thought Bratz merchandise was bad enough? I think about this beautiful girl, I used to be her part-time nanny, she’ll be starting year eight this year. Very physically mature for her age and the thought of her in one of those shirts (not that her mum would ever let her) makes me so angry at JayJay’s for trying to exploit young people like this.
L, I’ve just written a message with my objections via the jayjays.com.au website which incidentally is plastered with these offensive and stupid little creations. I can already imagine the response it might receive, but I felt I really wanted to do something concrete. Lisa
To you women above who have spoken out against the Little Losers range by leaving a comment or have taken steps to peacefully let others know or contacted the store directly, thank you.
I aim for the range to be pulled and for Jay Jays to exercise some corporate social responsibility toward their target market - young people. Boycott peacefully by not going into a store or buying the product.
L & Megan, I’ve contacted the store via email (their phone inbox is FULL), and encouraged others to do likewise on my post today http://thetinhouse.blogspot.com/2008/01/mr-pimp-miss-wasted.html
Thanks for the info. Lisa x
I’m not a parent and don’t intend on having children, but I agree completely that fashion for children is getting out of hand. Let kids be kids - they have the rest of their lives to be adults.
I can’t stand the ‘Sluts R Us’ look that seems to be girls fashion these days. More often that not my girls can be found in boys T-shirts because I just can’t stand the girls fashions.
Sun safe clothing is my other soap box topic. Looking through the shops it is impossible to find nice summer dresses with sleeves. Majority of girls t-shirts have itty bitty sleeves and end at the midrif. I had a big rant about it back in Oct. 2006 - http://leechbabe.blogspot.com/2006/10/slip-slop-slap.html
I appreciate your support everyone. We need to shout this from the rooftops and put as much pressure as we can on Jay Jay’s to show that our voice counts. I haven’t been able to get an email through to them yet. Hopefully that’s because they’re inundated with protests.
P.S. Thanks Megan for the stumble. All stumbles greatly appreciated!
I walked past Jay Jays the other day and on a mannequin I saw the shirt “Mr Well Hung”. I did a double-take and stood there with my mouth gaping open - that is so wrong on so many levels!
The sad truth is, it’s not just Jay Jays - in fact, Jay Jays is probably one of the LAST stores I have seen with those sorts of shirts! I’ve already seen shirts at KMart with things like “I Like Bad Boys”, “Gold Digger” and “Rub my Belly” etc - and much worse things in other stores with slogans that include swear words and sexual innuendo. So let’s not forget the other stores too - those shirts at Jay Jays are tame compared to some things I’ve seen in “hip teen clothing stores”.
Great post. I hate this sort of thing. I will be sure to lodge a protest. Thank you for drawing this to my attention.
Katie - you know I think it even starts with toddlers running around with things like “menace” or “trouble” on their t-shirts. It looks like harmless fun and adults find it funny. Parents then wonder why their kid turns into a menace???? We need to stop and think about the messages we give to our kids.
If my son was an adult and he came to visit me wearing one of those tees, I’d send him home to change. I am so completely disgusted by the range of clothing and products which are being marketed to younger and younger children.
This is not only disgusting. It’s almost frightening.
Last year my daughter had a voucher for Supre…so I let her have a little freedom and she went in to have a look by herself. She bought a t-shirt….it said ‘MY FACE IS UP HERE”[with an arrow pointing up] I marched staright back in there and demanded $$ refunded. Asked loudly Why would they sell such a t shirt to a young 12 year old????? Can’t they use some common sense and restrict selling such t shirts [since they feel they have to] to children-lets face it they are- over 16…
And as for the ones that say…’tell your boyfriend thanks’….don’t get me started.
[…] Lightening […]
Cerebralmum - what I don’t understand is WHY we can’t change what is happening. It doesn’t make sense to me that this stuff passes as okay. Teenagers just want to fit in without making a fuss and I can’t help but think the fashion world plays on that.
Bev - that’s deplorable really. How awful that all this has been happening without me knowing. I guess I don’t have reason to visit those stores.
Perhaps it’s not the stores themselves we should be targetting but politicians to get regulations changed in regard to what is and isn’t okay to sell to minors.
Lightening - just commenting further on your reply about babies wearing inappropriate shirts - I totally agree. And the worst thing is, they are not old enough to make their own decisions. They have no choice in what they are wearing and they don’t understand what their shirts mean! I’ve seen some pretty bad ones, I wonder who comes up with the slogans?
i hate slogan tees on so many levels and dont get me started on the stupid stickers ppl have on their cars these days either- who would want to proclaim they are a “crazy b****”????
I hate slogan shirts for littlies- my DD was given one recently!
I hate slogan shirts for adults and every age in between. the ones that are out in the shops atm are just plain bad taste!!