Kmart has responded to pressure and removed a kids’ wedding dress costume from stock after a Melbourne mum complained that the dress-up was “beyond inappropriate”.
The costume, priced at $6, was a white wedding dress and came with a veiled headband. It was sized for kids aged between 4 and 6.
The dress was pulled from the shelves two days after a petition was launched on Change.org by Shannon B.
“Kmart Australia regrets the decision to range the bride costume,” a Kmart spokesperson told 7 News.
“It was not intended to cause offence and we sincerely apologise. We have made the decision to withdraw this product.”
Surprising?
It’s actually quite a surprising move by the giant retailer, as the petition hadn’t exactly gone viral. In fact, it had only attracted 124 signatures.
Offensive
The petition stated:
“Each year, 12 million children (girls as young as 6 years old — the same size as this ‘costume’) are sold or married off by their family without their consent. That’s one million child marriages per month!”
“That equates to 23 children every minute or 1 child every 2 minutes. If this continues, 150 million more children will be married by the year 2030.
“Child marriage means child abuse and torture in its worst forms — paedophilia, child rape, child slavery, child sex trafficking.
“Tell Kmart this is beyond inappropriate and offensive and that they have a social responsibility to pull this item off their shelves immediately.”
Disappointed
I understand Shannon’s point of view. However, my little girls love playing weddings and would absolutely adore dressing up in a child-sized wedding dress. So I’m actually disappointed in their decision to remove the dress.
I guess Kmart was concerned that the whole thing would explode out of control and it wasn’t worth the risk.
Do you think Kmart should have pulled the kids’ bridal dress up? Tell us in the comments below.
We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
7:44 am
9:32 am
8:08 pm
5:35 pm
11:08 pm
4:52 pm
1:12 pm
9:20 pm
7:06 pm
9:58 am
3:29 pm
2:16 pm
1:01 pm
12:29 pm
7:55 am