[BingIMC-content] Wal-Mart and Hanes Turn Little Girls Into ‘Boy Magnets’

[steve peacock]

Wal-Mart and Hanes Turn Little Girls Into ‘Boy Magnets’

By Steve Peacock

Envision for a moment an adorable three-year-old girl, jumping and giggling in her parents’ backyard, pigtails bouncing as a patio full of grandparents, aunts and uncles cast their gaze upon her. 

Having established a visual of this hypothetical scenario, now focus solely upon the energetic child-star of this make-believe stage in Anytown, USA. 

Does the phrase "boy magnet" enter your mind? 

Most folks presumably would respond with an emphatic ‘No.’ However, corporate buyers who decide what gets sold on the shelves and racks of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., have a different opinion about slapping such a sexualized label on little girls, as do their supply partners at Hanes, Inc.

The Hanes-produced line of "Boy Magnet" sweatshirts is available at your local Wal-Mart store in sizes as tiny as Extra Small – just in case your household boy-magnet falls within the 39-44 inch height-range or tips the scales at 35-42 pounds. 

For those families with more mature boy-magnets, fear not, for Wal-Mart and Hanes have set their sites wide. Indeed, they also sell these shirts-in Small (45-48 in./43-55 lbs.), Medium (49-53 in./56-66 lbs.) and even larger sizes for the soon-to-be and just-barely pubescent segments of the population.

I first heard about these shirts from relatives who stumbled upon the items in the Tunkhannock, Pa., Wal-Mart. My wife, Jen, pointed out that the Boy Magnet shirts were small enough for our daughters, three and five-years-old, respectively. My mom expressed contempt for Wal-Mart for carrying the product, but she reserved most of her anger for men and women who actually buy such shirts for their lil’ gals. 

"What parent in their right mind would allow their child to wear such garbage in public?" Mom asked. 

It didn’t seem possible to me that the same "family-friendly" establishment which filters out excessively violent video games from its inventory would simultaneously engage in the commercial sexualization of children. Two days before Christmas 2004, I discovered for myself how the Boy Magnet shirts don’t simply fall within the "cutesy" category of target-marketed products for children and their parents.

Jen caught up to me at some point that day in the store, holding a then-unidentified shirt on a hangar, which she hung on a finger and swung from side to side. Forcing a smile and with lips pursed, she abruptly lowered the item in front of our three-year-old, revealing how the Boy Magnet item was a perfect fit (size-wise, that is) for our daughter. 

"I’ve got to talk to the store manager about this," I said. "I’ll be right back. Girls, wait here with Mommy."

"Maybe you should take them with you," Jen suggested. 

We both smiled. "Come on girls," I said, correcting myself. "We’ve got some business to take care of."

The customer service clerk complied with my request to summon the store manager. I made it clear I was seeking someone at the top of this facility’s food chain. 

Store manager Tom Stem arrived soon after, posing the sincere yet obligatory question, "How can I help you?"

"What do think of this shirt?" I asked. "Actually, let me get right to the point. This shirt, which as you can see features the phrase ‘Boy Magnet,’ is ‘Extra Small’" Pointing to my youngest daughter, I said, "It’s for girls as young as three, and you have sizes out on the sale floor that run the gamut of the preteen and post-teen crowd. As the leader of this store, what’s your opinion of this shirt?"

"Do you mean my personal opinion, or my professional opinion?" Mr. Stem responded.

"Either/or," I said. 

He hesitated before saying, "What it comes down to is, well, I have absolutely no say in what gets stocked in this store. A company buyer picks everything, and it’s my responsibility to sell it. I don’t have a say in the matter." 

"Then please forward my concerns to the buyer, to the regional manager and to corporate headquarters," I said. "I find it hard to believe that Wal-Mart, which markets itself as a family-friendly company, is so casual about the commercial sexualization of kids."

Stem agreed to share my gripe with the higher-ups in the company, but I knew that additional action would be necessary to accomplish anything substantial. I went home and submitted comments via the corporate Web site, hoping to at least catch the attention of a jumpy public relations flack.

Surprisingly, a representative from Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., called me at home within days. Buyer Dede Cole advised me that the company "doesn’t want to offend anyone" and has agreed to leave it to the discretion of individual store managers to remove the Boy Magnet shirts from his or her respective stores. 

The Arkansas "home office," as she called it, will send a nationwide memo to the managers, providing them with instructions on how to return the shirts to Hanes and to ensure that the stores receive merchandise credit for their efforts. 

While Wal-Mart’s has taken a positive step in being swift in its responsiveness, this half-a-loaf remedy simply doesn’t go far enough. Wal-Mart, in order to prove that it cares one iota about the thousands of communities in which it does business, must take it upon itself to remove the Boy Magnet shirts for preteen girls off its shelves. Similarly, Sara Lee Corp and Sara Lee Branded Apparel, Hanes parent company and corporate affiliate, must stop producing such apparel for little kids. 

ACTION PLAN

Here’s what to do:

1) CALL THE STORE MANAGER OF YOUR LOCAL WAL-MART and urge that person to remove the shirts from its inventory, reminding the manager that the corporate office has pledged to support such a move. Stores in the region include Cortland, N.Y. (607-756-1776), Elmira, N.Y. (607-739-1714), Norwich, N.Y. (607-334-5533), Vestal, N.Y. (607-798-1011), Dickson City, Pa. (570-347-2680), Honesdale, Pa. (570-251-9543), Pittston, Pa.. (570-883-9400), Sayre, Pa.. (570-888-9791), Tunkhannock, Pa.. (570-836-8064) and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (570-821-6180).

2) WRITE TO WAL-MART CHAIRMAN, MR. S. ROBSON WALTON and urge him to use his influence as the son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton to halt the commercial sexualization of children by removing the Boy Magnet shirts from stores worldwide. Letters addressed to Mr. Walton can be delivered to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, Arkansas, 72716-8611.

3) CONTACT HANES, INC. VIA ITS PARENT COMPANY, Sara Lee Corp. and its affiliate Sara Lee Branded Apparel, and ask it to halt production of the Boy Magnet shirts in sizes that fit preteen girls. Send letters to Mr. C. Steven McMillan , CEO, SaraLee Corp, Three First National Plaza, Chicago, IL 60602-4260, and also to Mr. Lee Chaden, Chief Executive Officer, Sara Lee Branded Apparel, 1000 E. Hanes Mill Rd., Winston-Salem, NC 27105. 

The momentum is rolling. Make those phone calls and write those letters NOW!

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