Clintons slammed by angry shoppers over ‘sexist’ mugs

10 July 2019, 17:01 | Updated: 10 July 2019, 17:19

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

The card retailer has been criticised for selling mugs which say girls are ‘princesses’ and boys are ‘heroes’.

Clintons has come under fire after an annoyed shopper accused them of “everyday sexism”.

The highstreet card retailer currently sells mugs with the words “princess” and “babe” for girls, while the boys version says “friend” and “hero”.

Over the weekend, Twitter user Paula Espener, from Glasgow, shared a photograph of the gifts on social media, warning that they are teaching children gender stereotypes.

Using the hashtag "everyday sexism", Paula tweeted: “What a delightful message to spread to our children. Please do better.”

This quickly caused outrage online, with many slamming it as “outrageous”.

“I really don't enjoy sexist stereotypes at the best of times, but daughter=babe takes this to a new level of wrong,” said one person.

Another replied: “My daughter is smart and strong and fierce. She's a good friend and a natural leader and absolutely my hero. Those mugs are #sexist.”

In another furious Tweet, someone slammed: “These mugs are narrow, stereotyped inappropriate nonsense. Just no I'm appalled this got through every process to shops stocking them without anyone saying no!”

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After seeing the response, Paula then went on to explain she is “mind boggled” by the mugs.

“It's mind boggling and extremely frustrating rather than offensive,” she said.

“It’s not wrong for a girl to want to be a princess in the same way that it’s not wrong for a boy to want to be a prince but the problem comes when you a tell a girl/woman that’s all she can be.

“The fact that we’re still stuck with and limited by these outdated attitudes is the issue, particularly when those attitudes are being spread by a national company and are being sold to our families and given to our young people.”

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Clintons have since replied to Paula and apologised for causing offence, writing: “Dear Paula, We are very sorry that this design has caused offence. That's never the intention when we select our gifts. Your comments have been passed to our buying team for review today.”

Gabrielle Peters, Head of gifts at Clintons, has also told Heart.co.uk: “We’re very sorry that offense has been caused. This is one from a wide range of drinkware that we sell, all of which is selected by our all-women gift buying team.”

She added: “Many of our products feature affirmative, strong statements relating to women. There are many princesses and heroes – fictional and real – that are very positive role models.

“We are sensitive to feedback and will review our range. All of our messages come from a good place and our intention is to cater to as wide an audience as possible.”