Parents have slammed a sports store for marketing a padded bra to girls aged seven, just weeks after other shops removed similar controversial products.
Sports Direct was criticised for selling the stripy pink bra next to a matching pair of underwear for “7-8 yrs”.
Mum Lisa McDermott called the product “disgusting”.
Sexualisation
Just last month another high street retailer, Primark, was forced to remove padded bikinis for seven-year-olds following an outcry.
At the time charity The Children’s Society criticised the fashion chain for “premature sexualisation”.
According to the Sun newspaper Sports Direct was selling its padded bra in Camden and in Central London last week, as well as online.
Not suitable
Speaking to the newspaper, customer Lisa McDermott, 32, said: “My daughter is three and the bra would be too small even for her. It’s disgusting.”
Kadie Turay, 25, mum of two daughters, said: “Children will have a sex life if they’re encouraged to dress that way.”
And Russell Graham, father of a six-year-old daughter, said: “It’s not suitable for children.”
Review
Sports Direct claimed the bras and briefs were sold separately and not as sets.
The firm said: “We will review how we present products.”
Following last month’s reaction to Primark’s sale of padded bras, other shops agreed to review their ‘sexy’ clothes for young children.
Appropriate
Simon Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next, said at the time: “We will look into the issue. If anything needs changing, we will do it immediately.”
Peacocks made a similar pledge, with its boss Richard Kirk saying: “We have started checking every product to make sure everything is appropriate.”
Tesco, Tammy and Primark said products would be reviewed.
Shocking
Linda Papadopoulos, author of a recent Home Office report on the sexualisation of children, said last month: “It is shocking to think how many people would have been involved to get these products on the market. And how desensitised they must have been not to consider their impact.”
And Penny Nicholls, director of children and young people at The Children’s Society, said: “We know from our research that commercial pressures towards premature sexualisation and unprincipled advertising are damaging children’s well-being.
“The evidence shows that adults feel children are more materialistic than in past generations, while children themselves feel under pressure to keep up with the latest trends.”
Schoolgirls discuss pressure of sex