British retailer Joy is feeling a whole tonne of customer hate after a rather unfortunate email campaign went viral.
In what can only be described as a case of “what the hell were they thinking?” the company sent an email to its customer base advertising its range of festive frocks that “scream marriage material” and will stop your boyfriend’s father from ogling your breasts at Christmas dinner.
See the offending ad below:
The full text of the ad read: “Show your boyfriend’s mom you’re the girl to take care of her little prince in beautiful dresses that scream marriage material. Knee-length skirts exude class while respectable necklines mean father-in-law won’t have a heart attack when you lean across the table for a second helping of roast potatoes.”
Naturally, Joy customers were none to happy and took to the retailer’s Facebook page to vent their rage. “I’m unliking you and never buying anything from you again after the sexist crap you’ve got on your latest email. Disgusting,” raged one. While another chimed in: “Fucking hell, is it 1953? What kind of sexist idiot comes up with this crap?”
The company itself was late to respond to the furore before issuing a statement via a publicist that read: “We would like to reiterate to all our customers that this was not intended to upset you or to demean anyone in any way, and we are deeply saddened to have inadvertently promoted a misogynistic view that we do not stand by nor follow.”
