Major retailers are being urged to sign a pledge not to market inappropriate clothing at children or be boycotted by parents following the social media backlash aimed at Target over its range of girls clothes.
"It saddens me that we have to force them to exercise corporate social responsibility by causing them to lose money, they could choose to act ethically without that sort of threat."In an open post on the retailer's Facebook page over the weekend, primary school teacher Ana Amini wrote: "Dear Target, Could you possibly make a range of clothing for girls 7-14 years that doesn't make them look like tramps … You have lost me as a customer when buying apparel for my daughter as I don't want her thinking shorts up her backside are the norm or fashionable."
At midday today the post had attracted more than 54,000 "likes" and almost 3000 comments
Collective Shout, a group which campaigns against the sexual exploitation of women, said by carrying inappropriate clothing lines retailers were sending a message to young girls that they must be "thin, hot and sexy".
"It's a bad business decision, they are going to be boycotted, parents are looking for alternatives and these days the only alternatives are online," Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist said. "Target really need to listen, that's a lot of people responding in a very short period of time."
Ms Tankard Reist said Collective Shout wants retailers to sign a pledge that they will no long carry clothing lines that sexualise young girls.
"In the past if a parent saw something they thought was inappropriate that they thought was not suitable for children often they thought 'oh maybe it's just me'", she said. "But now they've got a clear message, no there are thousands that feel that way and that emboldens people to take action."
"But it saddens me that we have to force them to exercise corporate social responsibility by causing them to lose money, they could choose to act ethically without that sort of threat."
President of the Australian Council on Children and the Media, Professor Elizabeth Handsley, said the problem for parents was that most retailers stocked similar styles of clothes for children.
"When it comes to buying kids clothes and you don't want to be spending a fortune you're down to those big chain stores and it's very hard to buy clothes anywhere else so if they are all doing it there is no consumer democracy out there," she said.
"I understand her frustration and I know that a lot of parents for a number of years now have felt quite frustrated by this.
"It tends to go straight from Barbie and Dora the Explorer to Pretty Woman, you get these little short shorts ... and the type of clothes you'd expect a grown woman to wear to a nightclub to attract men they are selling in a size seven."
Last night, Target posted a response on Facebook, inviting customers to email them with their concerns about "specific products".
Target Australia's general manager corporate affairs, Lynn Semjaniv, said it had recently introduced a process for customers to assess products before they go into stores.
"We know there is a huge diversity of opinion when it comes to children's clothing and that everyone has a different perception, which is why we believe in taking great care to ensure that our range is both age-appropriate and something that our customers' children will love … We are taking the feedback we have received from our customers on Facebook very seriously … for current and future product decisions."
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