Family retailer Bhs has been condemned by parents for selling novelty sex products alongside children’s toys.
Products which it would be inappropriate to describe in this article were referred to as “harmless fun” by the retail chain.
However, critics have accused the retailer of sinking to crudity in an attempt to boost sales.
A mother of three, Alicia Moss said: “Selling this sort of tat normalises crudity. We just don’t need it.
“It is all at eye level for a child and it is not something I want my children viewing”.
She added: “I am not a prude but I don’t expect this sort of thing in a family store like Bhs.”
Mrs Moss said in her 20 years living in Holland, which has a reputation for being open about sex, she “never saw anything as crude as that there”.
Joe Ellis, a father of two, said he found the products “offensive”. He said that it was “wrong” that they were placed “next to the kids’ presents” and expressed concern that his children could pick them up and ask him about them.
A Bhs spokesman defended the sex products, calling them a “bit of fun”. He suggested you “could go to any shop in the country and find something that is not for you”.
An apology was issued saying: “If we have upset anybody then we are sorry”. But the company has not said it will remove the products from its shelves.
This is not the first time concern has been raised by parents about retailers exposing children to “sexually inappropriate goods”.
Recently the leading stationery chain Ryman was forced to withdraw all Playboy merchandise after complaints that it was being promoted to children.