"Men can dress up as the men who beat, rape, abuse and murder vulnerable women and girls in the sex trade as though it is just a bit of fun or a laugh – enabled by you."

Back in July, we exposed craft and fabrics store Spotlight selling pimp costumes that trivialise male violence against women and girls in the sex trade.

The retailer has failed to respond – even after we contacted Head Office by phone and email multiple times, and even after we published the account of a sex trafficking survivor who outlined how these products normalise the sexual exploitation of women.

It appears Spotlight has made a conscious decision to continue to sell misogynistic pimp costumes in their stores.

We’ve called on our thousands of supporters around the country to boycott Spotlight until they stop selling these products.

We exposed crafts and fabrics store Spotlight selling pimp costumes back in July. The retailer has failed to respond – even after we contacted Head Office by phone and email – and continues to sell these misogynistic products.

We wonder if Spotlight considered how women and girls who are survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation might feel about their decision to knowingly profit from a product that trivialises their abuse?

Caroline Pugh-Robert, a sex trafficking survivor and award-winning expert and speaker, weighs in below.

Spotlight fails to pull pimp costumes from stores - it's time to #BoycottSpotlight

More than a month ago, we called out crafts and fabric store Spotlight for selling pimp costumes.

Pimps control women and girls in commercial sexual exploitation, often through physical violence and abuse. They sell vulnerable women and girls to other men for paid sexual abuse and take a cut (or all) of their earnings.

While the company quietly removed the costumes from its online store, they continue sell them in stores - even during their Book Week promotion, alongside Harry Potter, Disney and Spiderman costumes. 

Recently, we discovered well-known and respected American family brand Walmart selling Playboy merchandise. Its e-commerce platform, walmart.com, has over 1000 listings for Playboy branded products including costumes, clothing, fragrances and jewelry.

TeePublic responds - but we're not buying it!

*Content warning*

Last Friday we launched a new campaign against online apparel company TeePublic for selling harmful and degrading clothing, including onesies for infants, with slogans glorifying violence against women and exploitation of children. We found countless onesies depicting women being choked, bound, handcuffed, on a leash and chained up.

"Choke me - it's the only way I learn." On a baby onesie - and plenty more like it. @TeePublic is using babies as a vehicle for promoting the sexualised abuse of women. @Martin_Hosking any response?@collectiveshout https://t.co/48FqCHWgTB pic.twitter.com/VV0wWJv1Ok

— Caitlin Roper (@caitlin_roper) February 23, 2024

Supporters swiftly took to social media to call out TeePublic for turning a blind eye to the sexualisation of children and profiting off the degradation and abuse of women.

After just 5 days of campaigning by our supporters, online shopping giant SHEIN has removed a range of g-strings for girls and a miniature penis shaped ‘squishy’ toy.

SHEIN clothing, toys sexualise kids

US-based investment firm Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has quietly sold off over one million dollars in shares in strip club company RCI Hospitality Holdings (RCIHH) after Collective Shout called on them to divest. 

We were surprised when we discovered Thrivent - a company with particular appeal to faith-based and ethically motivated investors - was propping up and profiting from the sale of women’s bodies as men’s sexual entertainment.

Over the weekend it was reported that Thrivent divested in all remaining shares for RCIHH. This is a massive victory for our movement!