On December 10th Brandon Fields penned an open letter to Loblaws that he posted to Facebook.
In it he was critical of Loblaws' display of the National Enquirer issue seen up above in the checkout aisles.
His concern was straightforward,
"These magazines, which are displayed prominently at every checkout, are a very real form of bullying. What's more, they further perpetuate the idea that women should have flawless bodies, thereby exacerbating the problem of negative body image, particularly among female youths, but also among all sexes and age groups.To Loblaws' credit, the offending issue was removed from your aisles, but only in Newfoundland.
As a schoolteacher, how am I to demonstrate to my students the importance of treating others with respect when everywhere they look society is sending a message to the contrary?"
So my question to you Mr. Weston, as the executive chairman of Loblaws, if your company felt it appropriate and justified to remove the offending issue from shelves in Newfoundland (and kudos to you folks for that), why not remove it from the store shelves in the rest of the country where the remaining 98.5% of impressionable Canadian children reside?
Sincerely,
Yoni Freedhoff, MD
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It's not Westons fault for selling this crap, its the consumers that buy it! There wouldnt be these things on store shelves if the demand wasnt there. I like the letter. Raises a good point, but should be directed at us, the public.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Oh, but it is Loblaw's fault. They have a choice about what they sell, and they are nearly a monopoly. The population often doesn't have much choice about where to shop.
ReplyDeleteJust because people like something, in a ghoulish way, something that is bad for them and society, is no reason to give it to them. There are some places that sell magazines with front page pictures of the dead bodies of road accident victims, for example. Loblaws choose not to sell those.
Retailing is all about choices. Stores can sell these (imo perverse) products, but they do not have to be openly displayed at every checkout aisle to shame and titillate.
On another track; it is interesting that the people depicted in the "Best and Worst" front covers were actually outside (notwithstanding paparazzi's intrusion) and enjoying themselves on a beach.
ReplyDeleteNone of us have the perfect skin, bodies, hair etc. that the media oblige us to think is normal. We should not be ashamed to appear in public. Smile for the camera!
I would prefer that the cover not be reproduced here. It is sort of triggering.
ReplyDeleteGrasping at straws here. It's called business. Do you expect Lowblaws to stop selling, chips and pop too? Get real
ReplyDelete