Cotton On – are you on CRACK?

Co-Founder, Mamamia

August 13, 2009

Yesterday, I was contacted by MM reader, Elizabeth, who was upset at the latest slogan t-shirt she saw at Cotton On Kids AND IT’S WORSE THAN “I’m a tits man”…

Check this out – Elizabeth and her mother were shopping at the Cotton On Kids store in Kotara and was aghast to see a baby t-shirt with the slogan: “They Shake Me”

I think my eyes just exploded and I lost the ability to type. Oh wait! Back again! Just in time to say this:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elizabeth contacted the store via email and wrote the following:

I was in your Kotara store yesterday and saw a baby t-shirt with “They Shake Me” emblazoned across the front. Can you please explain the thinking behind this? Is this supposed to be funny? Thank you – look forward to your response.

The response she got was standard fob-off stuff – no doubt prepared after the furore that ignited a couple of weeks ago over their other charming t-shirts with slogans such as “I’m A Tits Man” and “Living Proof My Mum Is Easy”.

Thankyou for your recent enquiry regarding our KIDS slogan range. We appreciate your feedback and giving us the opportunity to respond.
The products in the current spotlight are a small percentage of the total slogan range. Others include lines such as “I heart Dad”, “It’s not easy being a princess”, “Dad and I agree”, “My mummy’s the best”, and “My daddy my hero” to name a few.
Cotton On Kids services all personalities including a market that demands confident and innovative children’s clothing. These products are intentionally edgy and irreverent and are certainly not meant to be taken seriously.
99% of our product and advertising depicts a playful and endearing confidence that simply encourages what makes kids cute.
The slogan products aren’t for everyone and in an effort to continue meeting the demands of all our customers, we constantly update and changing our range.
If you would like to give anymore feedback on what slogans you think are acceptable, please re-visit our website in the Contact Us section and select Press/Marketing Enquiries in the Subject field.
Again, thankyou for taking the time to let us know what you think.
Kind Regards

So she wrote back, asking the company to clarify whether they were, in fact, endorsing or making a joke about child abuse – shaking babies, in case you didn’t know – is responsible for the brain damage and death of babies every year.

IS THAT FUNNY, COTTON ON? IS IT? IS IT FUNNY TO JOKE ABOUT BABIES BEING ABUSED???? (they’re my words, not Elizabeth’s – she was far more restrained and polite).

And this is the response she got back:

Mia Freedman

Co-Founder, Mamamia

August 13, 2009

A New Development In The Case Of Missing Mum Samantha Murphy

The Quicky

Jackie-O On What She Wishes She'd Known About Divorce [re-release]

No Filter

Thank you yet again for your email.
We appreciate your feedback however we have not made any further decisions on our slogan tees,
Thanks for your time Elizabeth.

Kind Regards,

I am not going to publish the name or email address of the ‘marketing assistant’ who sent these emails because let’s be kind and assume that she is merely the messenger, not the decision-maker. What’s truly frightening is how many people along the Cotton On food chain must have approved this line and this slogan in particular.

What the hell are you people thinking and how dare you try to turn
children into the sickest kind of human billboards to advertise your
smart arse and grossly insensitive slogans?

What’s next Cotton On? Kids t-shirts that say “My Parents Sexually Abuse Me”? Or what about “My Parents Bash Me”? That would be hilarious, wouldn’t it!!

Internet, I am outraged, disgusted and distressed. I am a customer of Cotton On Kids. A long-time, loyal customer who buys a STACK of clothes there for my kids and who willingly endorses their products FOR FREE whenever I am interviewed by the media and asked where I buy my kids clothes.

But Cotton On? Listen hard. I will not be setting foot inside any of your stores – not your kids stores or your adult stores or your Rubi shoes stores – until you discontinue this appalling line of slogan t-shirts and issue some kind of apology.

You might also like to think about making a donation to Childrens’ Hospitals around Australia who face the grim reality of babies who HAVE been shaken. Sometimes to death.

If you share my feelings, and those of Elizabeth, I encourage you to vote with your wallet and to share your thoughts and purchasing decisions with Cotton On via email RIGHT HERE.

If that link doesn’t work, the email address is: customerenquiries@cottonon.com.au

And please forward and Re-tweet this post to everyone you know who shops at Cotton On Kids.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who read this post and forwarded it and re-tweeted it and contacted Cotton On….our voices were finally heard this afternoon. Having made all major TV news and radio bulletins and featured on all news websites, Cotton On have withdrawn the t-shirts from sale with a rather extraordindary statement:

The Australian reported at 4pm Friday…

Last month Cotton On had stuck by its range of shirts, which included slogans such as “I’m a tits man” and “I”m living proof my mum is easy”, saying there was a place in the market for their “edgy” humour that pushed the boundaries.

But today, as anger spread through the social networking sites, Cotton On finally cottoned on to their customers’ feelings, offering a contrite apology and a promise to withdraw the offending items from sale.

“Cotton On Kids were unaware until recently that the slogans were being viewed as offensive and that they could progressively cause this extent of angst amongst consumers and social groups alike,” the company’s statement released
this afternoon said.

“Although these products are intentionally edgy and irreverent, and the succession of this range was
driven by demand, the recent attention implies that the slogans in question have crossed the line.

“The Cotton On Group … extends an apology to those who have been affected by the slogans.
It promised to withdraw offensive products from sale and stop their production and “review the ongoing slogans range to ensure no reference is made to categories pertaining to sexually explicit behaviour, child
abuse, drugs and profanity.”

“Although Cotton On Kids will continue to service a market that demands confident and edgy clothing
that pushes boundaries, it has been recognised that certain references are not appropriate, and will sincerely endeavour to not cross these lines again,” the statement said.

Before the backdown, parents were livid at the t-shirt that made a joke of shaking babies. Commenting on the family blog site MamaMia, many parents today said they planned to boycott the store. “I don’t really have words to express my utter disgust at Cotton On Kids and their attempts to be “cool” and “hip” and “modern” with these appalling slogans,” wrote Angie.

Julie Gale from children’s rights lobby group Kids Free 2B Kids said Cotton On should be ashamed. “Issues
like the sexualisation and abuse of children aren’t humorous. They are serious. This retailer isn’t reading the mood of parents out there,” Ms Gale said.

While I’m glad we have forced their hand and the clothes have been withdrawn, I think their statement is a cop-out. Trying to excuse their manufacture of these slogan t-shirts as being “driven by demand” is a lot like a drug dealer claiming that he only sells drugs because people want to buy them.

There will always be fools who buy things. That doesn’t mean you have to demean yourself – and everyone else – by catering to that sick minority and making jokes at the expense of dead and brain damaged children. Children like Lincoln, who Caroline Overington has written about here.

COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOW CLOSED.

Tags:

A New Development In The Case Of Missing Mum Samantha Murphy

Jackie-O On What She Wishes She'd Known About Divorce [re-release]

Top Comments