Are your hard-earned dollars propping up Playboy?
Child sex abuse material. Non-consensual publication of women's nude images. Drugging and rape allegations against its founder. The global porn brand Playboy is synonymous with pornifying and exploiting women and girls.
We exposed some of parent company Playboy Group's more recent sexploitation ventures which include:
- Flogging porn-branded merch to China's children
- Launching an Only-Fans style porn platform
- Exposing kids to BDSM-porn themed ads via its sex shop Honey Birdette windows
Playboy-owned sex shop Honey Birdette's floor-to-ceiling BDSM-themed shop window ads
Big name investment firms and banks are propping up this long-standing corporate sexploitation offender. And YOU could be implicated.
Playboy Group is a publicly listed firm. Its shareholders include prominent investment companies, a number of which are signatories to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (a framework for incorporating Environment Social Governance or ESG considerations into investment activity). Investors include:
- Vanguard
- BlackRock
- Royal Bank of Canada
- State Street
- JP Morgan
- Northern Trust
- Morgan Stanley
- California State Teachers Retirement System
- Bank of America
- Goldman Sachs
- Deutsche Bank
Corporate grooming: Playboy Group CEO’s plans to flog porn-branded merch to China's children
It is deeply disturbing to see these names connected to Playboy - a proponent of the global pornography and sex industries. We presume they've done their due diligence, in which case, the connections indicate that finance giants are not just accepting of sexual objectification of women and sexualisation of children - they actually see these activities as viable investment opportunities.
We view good environmental, social and governance practices as a pre-requisite for responsible investing, but also as a tool to help mitigate potential risks and conflicts.
Meanwhile, by holding shares in Playboy Group, they violate their own commitments to responsible investment and directly contravene United Nations Sustainable Development Goals - Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Click here to read: 12 ways Playboy-owned Honey Birdette disempowers women and girls
Shareholders should know full-well the risks of investing in unethical, exploitative corporates like Playboy Group. No company which claims to invest responsibly should be propping up this corporate sexploitation offender.
We are calling on these companies to divest from Playboy Group immediately. You can help us.
Take action!
- Share our social media posts and tag the companies listed above.
- Do you bank or invest with one of Playboy Group’s shareholder firms? (See full list of Playboy Group shareholders here.) Contact them and tell them what you think of their investment in Playboy - and ask them to divest their Playboy shares. If they refuse, they don't deserve your business. There are plenty of other investment companies which won't invest your hard-earned dollars in sexploitative companies like Playboy Group.
Let us know if you get a response.
See also
Pink-cladding: The corporates who use women to cover their sexploitative tracks
The house that Hef built: Hugh Hefner's Dark Legacy - MTR in ABC Religion and Ethics
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