We are pleased to learn that Playboy Clothing ANZ has shut down its website. The official distributor of licensed Playboy apparel for Australia and New Zealand previously supplied popular youth retailers including City Beach and Culture Kings with its porn branded merchandise.

The sex store can throw out words like “strength”, “confidence” and “autonomy” all they want (sounds like someone has been using a thesaurus!) but it doesn’t make them true

After two more porn-themed ads upheld by Ad Standards, sex store defends its objectification of women for profit

Ad Standards has upheld complaints against two more porn-themed ads by Playboy-owned sex store Honey Birdette, with complaints now upheld against more than 80 separate ads.

A local community member made a complaint to Ad Standards over two different ads at Lakeside Joondalup, one featuring a woman in sheer lingerie pulling down her bra strap, and the other featuring a woman in sheer lingerie reclining while pushing her breasts together. Read the case report here. 

Porn themed ads which present women as objects to an audience that includes children. We are battling a scourge of violence against women and sexual grooming of children. I object to this company contributing to a culture which normalises these harms in my community.

Ad Standards upholds complaints against sexist ads

If you thought that by the year 2024 we would have moved past using women’s objectified bodies to sell unrelated products, you would be mistaken!

We were recently alerted to a Victorian hot sauce brand, Pickle My Chili, doing just that.

We recently discovered that Pinterest was hosting content that exploited and sexualised teen girls. A user had created a board called 'Teen cameltoes' and was uploading content focusing on young girls genital regions. When a Collective Shout supporter reported it, Pinterest reviewed and decided the content could stay. The supporter then sent us screen shots and Pinterests determination.

Since the beginning of our movement, we’ve been calling out the sexualisation and objectification of women and girls. We’ve argued that sexualising, objectifying and porn-themed representations of women – particularly when they are normalised, unremarkable and make up the backdrop to our lives – shape attitudes towards women. Essentially, when women are portrayed as sexual objects existing for men’s sexual entertainment and use, this has real-world consequences for women and girls.

Our persistence has paid off!

After 7-weeks of calling out e.commerce platform TeePublic for selling baby clothes covered in p*rn themed and violent slogans, we can at last report progress.

On Monday we met with parent company Articore (formerly Redbubble). We received a verbal and written apology and an official undertaking to remove these products which should take about a week (many of those we have exposed before have already gone). Articore will also work on improving its tech and moderating systems to stop it happening again.

Special thanks to all supporters who took action!

The power of one complaint: Speaking out leads to change

Collective Shout supporter, Isla, alerted us to a Wheels & Dollbaby ad promoting their 'St. Trinians collection - inspired by private schoolgirls who make their own rules'.

Wheels and Dollbaby is an Australian ‘rock n’ roll luxury clothing brand with an international market and status attracting big name clients. Clearly the label is popular. But why employ sexy private school girl tropes to push out its products?

School girls everywhere are routinely sexually harassed on a daily basis (and not just the private ones). On their way to school, on their way home.

*Content Warning*

Online apparel company, Teepublic, is selling harmful and degrading clothing, including onesies for infants, with slogans glorifying violence against women and exploitation of children. 

'I F*CK ON THE FIRST DATE Baby Bodysuit'

We found countless onesies depicting women being choked, bound, handcuffed, on a leash and chained up.

Earlier this week a supporter sent us a screenshot of a sponsored post on Facebook where giant e-commerce platform SHEIN was pushing thigh-high fishnet stockings for infants. "This is a massive red flag for me" she said. 

We discussed it as a team and our Movement Director, Melinda Tankard Reist said "This major online e-commerce platform thinks it’s ok to sexualise even babies by flogging thigh-high black fishnet stockings. Shein has linked babies with an item of clothing commonly associated with the sex trade. We have documented other examples of Shien’s exploitation and adultification of children including padded bras and see-through costumes. The company must be called out for pedo whistling."

So we decided to share the image on Facebook, Instagram, X(Twitter) and LinkedIn calling on all our supporters to contact SHEIN and demand they remove the item from their site. 

Clearly this campaign struck a chord with many as we had hundreds of comments on our social media platforms. 

"I have grave concerns about the mind of the person who thought these a good idea - I think they need help of some sort."

"What the actual! That’s disgusting"

"Appalling"

"Yuck!! 🤮 This is all kinds of wrong. Actually makes me feel physically sick."

"Words fail at this sickness"

"SHEIN this is not a good look….."

"Shame on you SHEIN"

"SHEIN this is disgusting. I will be spreading this info to everyone I know so that your company is boycotted."

"I wrote a book about pornification of reality and this is the worst thing I've ever seen."

"This is not the first time. SHEIN have a history of sexualising girls. We must call this out!"

We recently shared to Facebook the latest Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism, and Masochism (BDSM) style posters hanging in Honey Birdette's shop windows for school holidays. We intentionally added blurred sections across the chest and genital region before posting. As a campaigning movement it is important to our strategy that we alert supporters when there is an ad that needs calling out. 

The post read: 

Westfield partners with p*rn giant for back to school child grooming - take action!

Content warning - *we have censored the ad

Our Engagement Coordinator Coralie Alison spotted this graphic p*rn themed Honey Birdette ad at a Westfield shopping centre while back-to-school shopping with young children.

The Playboy-owned s*x shop window ad - labelled ‘Stephanie Black’ - features near naked women in cut-out bondage wear that exposes their genital region. One is topless, wearing nipple pasties.

The shopping centre is currently running kids’ school holiday activities and other promos enticing parents to come purchase children’s school supplies.

Last year Ad Standards upheld community complaints against a similar shop window ad for the ‘Stephanie’ bondage range.

*Take action: Tell Westfield to pull Honey Birdette’s BDSM-p*rn themed ad

Contact Westfield ANZ

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestfieldANZ?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westfieldanz

X: https://x.com/scentregroup?s=21&t=RcbohD8QJxBvbAh0SLE1VA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scentre-group/

Let us know if you get a response.

We then got alerted by Facebook that our post had violated their Community Standards on adult sexual solicitation. We were even warned that our account may be restricted or disabled. 

Yet Honey Birdette's post (without blurring) was still able to be up on Facebook for anyone 13 and older to see. 

We disagreed with Facebook's decision and asked for an appeal. 

Our appeal was reviewed and our original post was found to not be in violation of Facebook's Community Standards and was reinstated. 

We (a small charity challenging sexual exploitation) were targeted by Meta (a trillion dollar company) whilst Playboy owned sex shop Honey Birdette wasn't.   

We have also lodged a complaint with Ad Standards and will update our supporters as soon as the Panel makes a determination. We encourage all community members concerned about the pornification of shop front window displays to write to their Shopping Centre management and to lodge their own complaint with Ad Standards. You can lodge a complaint here.