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Shopping centres named in Crossed Off list for ‘porn-themed advertising’

Collective Shout has called on shoppers to boycott Australia’s major retail centres for carrying what it called “porn-themed” advertising.

In its annual “Crossed Off” list, the activist group accused Westfield, Stockland, Lendlease and Vicinity Centres of perpetuating the objectification of women and girls.

It said the shopping centres should be blacklisted for hosting lingerie retailer Honey Birdette which “consistently plasters its display windows with pornified representations of women”.

Honey Birdette, which has a history of being hauled before Ad Standards, has failed to comply with 44 complaints that have been upheld by the regulator, Collective Shout said.

“It’s all about profits at the expense of women,” Collective Shout campaigns manager Caitlin Roper said. “It’s time for these companies to stop profiting from sexualising and objectifying women and girls.

“If they don’t understand Corporate Social Responsibility, if they don’t understand ethics, maybe they will understand when they start losing money.”

She said the CEOs “identify as Male Champions of Change” yet facilitate sexualised imagery. They also continue to ignore a change.org petition that has been signed by 77,000 consumers urging them to take action, the group said.

Collective Shout also urged consumers to steer clear of car service firm Ultra Tune which it claims has a “history of sexist ads”, and online retailer Etsy for selling what it called “sex dolls designed and sized to look like children”.

Ultra Tune topped Ad Standards’ list of the most complained about ads of the first half of 2020.

A Lendlease spokesperson said: “When it comes to advertising in our centres, we take all of our customers’ feedback seriously and always pass it on to our retailers. All advertising is governed by the Advertising Standards Bureau, which can request the removal of advertising found in breach of the standards, and we continue to be guided by the regulator.

 “We encourage customers who are concerned about advertising to direct complaints to Ad Standards. We’ll continue to monitor customer and retailer feedback and adhere to any determinations made by Ad Standards.”

Scentre Group defended the inclusion of Honey Birdette at its centres, and said each of its retailers “have unique personalities”.

“As the owner and operator of 42 Westfield centres across Australia and New Zealand, our role is to curate a product and services mix in our centres that meets the needs and tastes of a broad section of the community, so there is something for everyone,” a spokesperson said.

“Each of our retailers have unique brand personalities. How they express this brand through in-store window advertising is the responsibility of individual retailers.

“We work closely with our retailers to share and discuss customer feedback directly with them so their decision-making is informed by these views.

“AANA has recently released a new Code of Ethics and we encourage all our retail partners to familiarise themselves with it.”

Stockland, Vicinity Centres and Honey Birdette have also been approached for comment.

The Crossed Off list is part of a 10-year project to “challenge sexist ideas which contribute to harmful behaviour towards women and girls”.

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