Bakery Chain Gets Flak For Weird ‘Sexualized’ Ad Of Girls Being Gagged By Tarts
Image via Shutterstock
Australian bakery company Bakers Delight has pulled its ad after being called out for supposedly mimicking a “porn-inspired abuse scenario.”
The print was displayed at the Currambine Central Shopping Center in Perth, and it showed two young girls in Santa hats being bounded with Christmas lights and gagged with lemon tarts. The words “silent nights” were printed in the background.
Caitlin Roper, a campaign manager from Collective Shout—a group that speaks out against the sexualization of children—snapped a photo of the advert and criticized the company for “trivializing the issue of abuse and torture of children.”
“Frightened looking tween girls essentially bound and gagged to sell lemon tarts?” she penned on Twitter. “Is your marketing team make up of misogynists, Bakers Delight?”
She also told Nine.com.au, “This is a misogynistic, porn-inspired abuse scenario to sell baked goods. It’s hard to fathom how anyone at Bakers Delight thought this was acceptable, or that it could be a humorous scenario. How many people signed off on this concept?”
Bakers Delight has issued an apology, and has had the ad removed. “Trivializing an important issue like child abuse was never our intention and we apologise to anyone we may have inadvertently upset,” the bakery said.
Frightened looking tween girls essentially bound and gagged to sell lemon tarts? Is your marketing team made up of misogynists @bakersdelight? pic.twitter.com/oWI4TCbnJH
— Caitlin Roper (@caitlin_roper) November 7, 2020
how disturbing!
— Shannon Meridian 🇨🇦 ♀️ (@ShannonMeridian) November 7, 2020
I wonder what those girls took away with them after that photo shoot? ‘It’s funny to tie girls up and shove food in their mouths to shut them up’? ‘The people said I looked good when I pulled that terrified expression’?
— Lee (@GreenPea123) November 7, 2020
How the heck is tying up young girls (with live electrical wires no less), and gagging them to silence them, an acceptable way to sell anything @bakersdelight #bakersdelight ?
— nerdydad (@nerdydad1) November 7, 2020
I’m curious, @bakersdelight. Was this “inner city tosspot marketing firm” or “sociopath boss’s idea that nobody had the guts to refuse”?
— K-Lor (@kalorvoe) November 7, 2020
[via B&T, cover image via Shutterstock]
Also check out these recent news
