As parents and students prepare for the return to school after the long summer holidays, those who saw a back-to-school catalogue put out by Typo, the stationery store owned by Cotton On, got more than they bargained for.
In among the pads and pens, there was an image of an A4 notebook with a photo of a naked woman, and the word “DIRTY” in large capitals, along with the subtitle “Entertainment for men.”
And there was a travel mug with the slogan, “Porn is my Saviour.”
Responding to the public backlash, the company said Typo was reviewing its merchandising policies “in order to be more sensitive to the fact that children may be present in our stores.”
But as Ruth Limkin observed in an article in The Courier Mail, those images displayed in the workplace would constitute sexual harassment, women are not objects to be trashed, and companies should not be in the business of sexually exploiting women for profit.
Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 22 Jan 2012.
