Dear Fabric.com Folks,
I love you. You’re great people and your customer service is fabulous. I love your selection and prices.
That said, your latest newsletter made me choke on my coffee and almost swear never to do business with you again. What utter NONSENSE for you to play into the idea that colors and professions are gendered!!! http://www.fabric.com/girls-only-the-boys-club.aspx?cm_re=SL1-_-home-_-Boys%20Girls%20Only%20Sale No, I’m not kidding. It is absolutely absurd in this day and age for you to be doing this. Be careful that you don’t shoot yourself in the foot the way Legos did.
Here are some educational resources that you can have your marketing folks sit down and watch / read:
This should be required reading:
This is a take on the Lego issue in the news:
and this video should be required viewing:
Mind you, I’m aware that there are traditional quilters out there who are reinforcing the color stereotypes. They, however, can find whatever they’re looking for just by looking by color. WHY did you feel the need to write, “The Boy’s Club- No Girls Allowed” on one side, and “Girls Only” on the other side. Do you see how this implies that the girls may want to try and get into “Boy Space,” but that there’s no need to warn off the boys away from a lower status area? Also, your descriptions of what the kids should be interested in are quite insulting: “Make your little superheros happy with prints of sports, trains, and robots; and your little princesses happy with prints of fairies, mermaids, and tea parties.” Right, do you see how you’re labeling boys as active (superheroes) who like to do things with actual real-world objects, while you’re forcing girls into appearance-based roles (princesses) focused on mythological creatures and social occasions?
I am by no means the most articulate person when it comes to this. I tend to see red and rant to all of my friends. In this case, however, I’m giving you a chance to make things right, first. If you want to keep your gender stereotyped “clubs” for the older quilters, fine. But include a club for non-gender-specific children’s fabric. Help those of us who are younger and more modern find stuff that’s not nauseatingly stereotypical. You could call it, “Club Kid” or something like that.
Here are some fast suggestions for a CHILDREN’S section:
Ugh. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about stuff that shouldn’t be in ANY section marketed as being for kids:
Seriously? If you don’t understand why marketing adult lingere and alcoholic beverages to little girls is wrong, then there’s nothing more to be said. Just keep it in that section and you can mark me off of your list of customers.
Ahh yes, and I might mention that I’ll be publishing all of this to facebook and to various blogs. Fix this, my friends, and fix it quickly.
I await your response.
Sincerely,
A Devoted, but Disgusted Nearly-Former Customer.
Feisty Penguin 