A letter from one little girl changed the way a company labeled their books. The girl’s name is Parker Dains and she is 7-years-old. She was upset because the back of the book said, “Biggest, Baddest Books for Boys”. She was so bothered by the phrase that she insisted on writing a letter to the company explaining her conundrum. She was clear, concise and professional when she told them that she enjoyed the book very much; however, the wording on the back suggested that only boys would like it.
The company was very gracious about being reprimanded by a little girl. They sent her a letter apologizing for their choice in wording. The company also told her that they would be changing future books in the series to read, “Biggest, Baddest Books”, leaving out the “for boys”. Everyone could learn how to change things while being polite and kind. Many companies label things for boys and girls, men and women and even gay and straight. It is a cycle that can and should be broken by any means necessary.There are some companies that are not as accommodating. For instance, Abercrombie and Fitch refuse to make large size clothing. The company released a statement stating that they are targeting a particular size client and they will not change their minds. News of the company’s stance spread like wildfire over social networking sites, but it appears that it did little to stop Abercrombie from prejudice against larger sized men and women.
That is not the first time that the company has been boycotted for prejudice. A group of 24 girls were outraged to find stereotyping on the clothing sold in the store. One of the tee-shirts went as far as to say, “Who needs brains when you have these?” The company claimed that it was just humor, but nobody was laughing. It took a month before the company took the shirts off the rack. Some say that they just sold out and never really took them off the sales floor.
Mini BabyBel Cheese made a statement in one of their commercials that was not only politically incorrect, but downright hurtful to one particular group of the population. They used the term “mentally ill holidays”, and the sparks began to fly. Customers boycotted their products and were successful. The company apologized for their insensitivity and removed several products from their line to appease the masses.
When consumers boycott a company, the business takes a huge loss in revenue. When the boycott continues for an extensive amount of time, the company could potentially go out of business. The fallout is devastating for small businesses and massive corporations alike. The consumer voice is loud whether it is one little girl speaking or millions of adult consumers. That is how it should be, because businesses are there to serve the communities that feed it.