H&M Australia has been forced to pull a kids back to school promotion after it was lambasted for sexualising children.
The offending social media ad featured two young girls wearing pinafore dresses and came with the line: “Make those heads turn in H&M back to school fashion.”
The ad was quickly picked up by social media users who went so far as to accuse the Swedish-owned fast fashion brand of promoting paedophilia.
Psychologist, relationships expert and author Dr Pam Spurr led the chorus of complaints. “Your vile ad panders to paedophiles that it’s OK lusting after girls,” Spurr said. “Boycott H&M. A shameful exploitation of girls.”
Australian writer Melinda Tankard Reist added: “Little schoolgirls generally don’t want to ‘turn heads’. The large numbers I engage with in schools want to be left alone to learn and have fun and not draw unwanted attention to their appearance.”
Other users called the work “creepy,” “disturbing,” and recalled their own stories about “being ogled” while still at school.
Following the outrage, H&M immediately pulled the ad yesterday and said via a spokesperson: “We have removed this ad. We are deeply sorry for the offence this has caused and we are looking into how we present campaigns going forward.”
