Collective Shout's Lyn Swanson Kennedy in Mumbrella
Earlier this month, Swati Bhattacharya took to the stage at Mumbrella360 with a very clear message to men: “Women have grown tired of waiting for them to grow a conscience”.
Within a few hours, at the same event, on a different stage, Scentre Group’s customer experience director, Phil McAveety, spoke on the transformation of Westfield malls into “living centres”. It was difficult for us at Collective Shout to ignore the irony. For 18 months, we have been petitioning Scentre Group’s CEO, Peter Allen, to put a stop to sex-shop Honey Birdette’s porn-themed window displays in its shopping malls – beg your pardon, “living centres” – to no avail. The petition has 72,000 signatures. Westfield certainly hasn’t taken cues from customers imploring it to grow a conscience.
Collective Shout responds to common defences of Honey Birdette sexploitation
Honey Birdette is a serial sexploitation offender. The sex shop, located in shopping centres around the country, has attracted hundreds of complaints for its sexist advertising. Ad Standards has investigated complaints sixty-six advertisements, upholding thirty-seven, but Honey Birdette continues to sexually objectify women.
In 2017, father and Collective Shout supporter Kenneth Thor launched a petition calling on Westfield shopping centres to stop Honey Birdette’s porn-themed advertising, but to date Westfield has failed to take any action. Enough is enough- Westfield must act on Honey Birdette sexual exploitation of women.
In this blog, we’ve compiled responses to some of the more common defences of Honey Birdette sexism.
Add your comment