Yahoo LifestyleRiver Island Forced To Pull 'Sexist' Anti-Nagging Gag From Its Shelves
High street chain forced to apologise after the gag designed to stop women moaning during the football goes viral on Twitter
River Island has today come under attack for selling a gag designed to stop women nagging when the football is on.
Yes, really.
The ‘Domestic Anti Nag Gag’ was spotted in one of the high street chain's 300 UK stores by comedienne Jenny Bede who tweeted the product to her followers.
Found this in @RiverIslandPR today. Stunned. @EverydaySexism pic.twitter.com/o7puwCH1kC
— Jenny Bede (@jenharrisbede) May 5, 2014
She tweeted a picture of the offending item to the Everyday Sexism account, headed by activist and journalist Laura Bates, who then retweeted it to their 142,000 followers.
Thousands of disgusted Twitter users threatened a boycott of the store, whose key demographic is women between the ages of 18 – 35.
The gag, in the shape of a football, was marketed as the ideal solution to that age old problem of women folk ordering men around while they’re TRYING TO WATCH THE MATCH!
[Do We Still Need Feminism in 2014?]
[How women are shouting back against Everyday Sexism]
Classic nags such as “Have you put this bins out?”, “Get your clothes off the floor!” and “It’s your turn to do the dishes” will apparently be a thing of the past if you buy your partner this snazzy little trinket.
There’s no accounting for taste but if you’re a bloke and think this is funny/harmless, it’s probably time to rethink your life.
Let’s be honest - the men who find this funny probably haven’t seen a real woman naked since Tony Blair was in Number 10 but for a nationwide chain like River Island to be complicit in such blatant perpetuation of harmful and patently untrue stereotypes sends a worrying message to its key demographic of young Brits.
As the pathetic product did the rounds on Twitter, River Island hastily removed the £4 item from their websites and told the Telegraph it would soon be removed from stores.
An official statement read: “As soon as this product was brought to our attention we withdrew it from sale and removed it from our website.”
The fact that the product even made it as far as the design stage is enough to make you weep.
What do you think of the gag? Let us know over on Twitter.
