Kohls Thinks Thongs and Training Bras Go Together Like Peanutbutter and Jelly

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/kohls-thinks-thongs-and-training-bras-go-together-like-peanutbutter-and-jelly/



Retailers are good about placing products near each other so that when you buy one, it tips off all of the related products you might also need.  You see it often in grocery stores, when they'll place the marshmellows and chocolate bars right next to the graham cracker to make your brain think, "Wow, I need smores!"  Or, when you notice a bag of socks sitting in a display next to the tennis shoes at your local sporting goods store.  It's an implus switch they try to flip by offering you related goods that might go well with your current purchase.

Which is why it shocked Melissa Wardy, an advocate for girls and owner of Pigtail Pals, a clothing brand launched to empower young girls and "redefine girly,"  so much to walk into a Kohls department store and find lacy thongs in a display next to the training bras.

I saw it out of the corner of my eye, and at first I figured it was out of place, put there by a customer who hadn’t returned it to it’s intended spot. Then I took a step back. I was looking at an entire wall of lacy, sexy panties all within an arm’s reach of the training bras. No other panties were closer, no discreet cotton bikini cut Days of the Week or rainbows, just this wall of semi-trashy looking unmentionables. What struck me is how tiny and sexy they were. Not a lot of coverage even from the hipsters or ‘cheekies’ (teeny boy short undies). An entire wall, right next to the training bras. Peanut butter and jelly.

This seemed wrong to me, that girls young enough to be wearing training bras (average age is 8-13 years old) would also be wearing lingerie-like panties. After all, lingerie is like gift wrapping for sex, so why in the world would a 10 year old who just bought a training bra also need a black thong with bedazzled skull on it? Who exactly is this 10 year old supposed to be gift wrapping herself for?

...

At the store I measured with a little tape measurer from my purse (I have a four year old who loves to measure stuff when we run errands) and sure enough, the Wall of Thong was less than 24 inches from the training bras, was facing the training bras and the whole Juniors section. At home, I put the thong, Size Small, on a dress form I use to display my Pigtail Pals tees. I picked my largest torso, an 8T. I had no problem fitting the thong onto the form that has a 29″ hip measurement (US standard hip measurement for a 10 yr old girl is 28.5 inches). The image is above.

I went to Kohl’s website to determine if maybe this was just an anomaly at my particular store. Nope. Seems Kohl’s family-focused department store has no problem selling sexy undies to Juniors under several of their labels. In addition to Candie’s, Mudd also makse thongs for teens and Hello Kitty makes a hipster that barely covers the public bone. Certainly there were many choices online for more appropriate underwear for a girl sized 7-16. But that differed from how the store was merchandised. The appropriate underwear was back by the Kids section, nowhere near the Juniors. The sexy underwear was right next to the Juniors section, where these girls would be shopping, either with the family or their friends. Let’s be honest, if you’re 13 years old and hanging out at the mall with your gal pals and you want to buy underwear, are you really going to excuse yourself and walk over to the kids’ section? Is Kohl’s counting on peer pressure to make sales?
Of course, she did what any good mom would do, and spoke directly to the company.  The response?  "BOTTOM LINE: IT SELLS."

It's not often that businesses are us willing to be so blatantly honest.  It is by far more important for them to make a profit than it is to keep yougn girls from being exploited.  As long as they (or even worse, their parents) are willing to purchase age inappropriate, highly sexualized attire, they are willing to sell it.  Nothing matters more than the profit line.

Kohls said they make changes based on customer feedback.  They suggested people "vote with their money."  It definitely works.  After all, it wasn't so long ago that Walmart had to pull their "Who Needs a Credit Card?" panties they were marketing to juniors last year in the face of a possible boycott and bad press.

Hopefully Kohls will see the error of marketing hypersexualized clothes to girls as well.  And if not, I hope everyone "votes with their money" to let them know this is NOT the way to make a profit.

To express your concerns over this type of marketing, you can contact the following:

Candie’s: Cory Cole email: [email protected]

Kohl’s: Jessica Swearingen 262-704-9185, Assistant Manager of Correspondence

Kohl’s Customer Service: [email protected]