Mothercare has altered the wording on its website after a campaign group and parents threatened to boycott the retailer.
Campaign group Let Clothes Be Clothes shared a screenshot of the website on 4 August advertising a boys’ clothing collection with science themes.
The description of the ‘Space Oddity’ range read: “An out of this world collection for boys, filled with stars, planets and science themes.”
“What Jupiter sized rubbish is this Mothercare UK?” the campaign group wrote on Facebook.
A parent commented on the post: “Mothercare is one of the most stuck-in-the-past companies I’ve come across for this sort of thing. It’s embarrassing.”
The campaign group later shared more screenshots from the Mothercare website, including a collection aimed at girls.
The “nature explorer” range for girls had tops with the slogans: “Be your own kind of beautiful” and “Confetti, glitter, sparkle.”
“I’ve never called for a boycott before but since Mothercare UK continually promote such harmful ideas, action is needed,” Let Clothes Be Clothes wrote on Facebook on 5 August.
A spokesperson for Mothercare told HuffPost UK: “We agree that this collection can be enjoyed by both boys and girls and are currently updating our website.”
Let Clothes Be Clothes have since uploaded a screenshot of the changes made to the website, with the word “boy” changed to “little one”.
“Please keep commenting, keep sharing and posting, keep raising awareness and challenging retailers,” the campaign group wrote.
A spokesperson for Let Clothes Be Clothes told HuffPost UK: “It is disappointing to see that no real changes have been made and there are still no science-themed clothes on sale at Mothercare marketed to girls, yet there are 19 t-shirts alone on sale aimed at boys.
“We desperately urge Mothercare to rethink how they design and market clothing to girls and boys, and look to their own Little Bird range by Jools Oliver for an example of just how fun, bright and colourful clothing can be if you start to design for children instead.”
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