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A daring lingerie chain right across from two toy stores has angered parents with ads for ‘soft porn’ on the shop window.
Honey Birdette rotates photos and videos of nearly naked women in bondage situations with explicit slogans on the windows of the Sydney store in the west of Sydney at the Broadway Shopping Centre.
On Monday, local Labor councilor Linda Scott and a group of parents protested outside the shop, complaining that the ads are too extreme given the proximity of a Lego toy store and a Smiggles stationery store for kids.
Giant screens play Honey Birdette’s controversial video clips in store windows as families pass by at Broadway Shopping Center (pictured)
Parents say their pleas to “protect the innocence of children” have fallen on deaf ears, despite Honey Birdette’s promotions falling 61 times over the advertising watchdog.
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) ruled last December that five Honey Birdette ads violated community standards and noted that the commercials could be seen by children walking past the chain’s stores.
One ad featured two women in red lingerie with the words “Tease me. F**k me’ and another showed a woman in pink lingerie being pulled by a chain on a collar.
These promotions were considered exploitative, degrading and too sexually explicit for their environment by the watchdog.
Other Honey Birdette ads that fit the watchdog standards showed a topless man in a pig mask and women sucking icy poles in a sexually suggestive way with the tagline get ready to get wet.
The Honey Birdette store in the Broadway Shopping Center (pictured) has long been a target of parents concerned about what their children are exposed to
Ad standards watchdog has ruled that 61 Honey Birdette ads fail to meet community standards (model pictured in campaign ad for Honey Birdette)
“Children have not given their consent, but they are still suffering these violations in their local stores,” protest spokesman Leigh Morgan told the newspaper. Daily Telegram.
“In May Anthony Roberts, Secretary of State for State Planning, met us and said he would take action, but we are forced to take the protection of our children into our own hands.”
Morgan said his group, the Forest Lodge and Inner West Parents, wanted Mr. Roberts to consider where companies had violated advertising standards when granting permits that violate the council’s regulations.
“That clear statement would mean that the council can protect children in public spaces,” Morgan said.
A local mom labeled the Honey Birdette ads as “soft porn” (model pictured in campaign ad for Honey Birdette)
The Honey Birdette store in the Broadway Center is opposite Lego (pictured) and Smiggles stores, both popular stores for children
Cr Scott of the City of Sydney said it was “disappointing” that the state government did not address the concerns of the community.
Violating an AANA advertising standard will result in a takedown notice, but this is voluntary as there is no penalty or enforcement.
Responding to complaints about their ads last July, Honey Birdette denied that they were pornographic, exploitative or demeaning.
“It’s never our intention to create controversy and they couldn’t be further away from being ‘porn’ style videos,” they said.
‘We are a company run by women, for women, who strongly believe in women’s empowerment.’
Honey Birdette has built a multinational brand with raunchy advertising after Australian businesswoman Eloise Monaghan opened her first store in Sydney 15 years ago (models pictured in campaign ad for Honey Birdette)
Inner West mom Sarah Lalor started an online petition to force Honey Birdette to stop showing “sexually offensive video clips,” which she labeled “kind of porn” in July 2021.
“The ad commodifies/objectifies women’s bodies and is too overtly sexual for malls where children are inadvertently exposed to it,” the petition, which gathered 654 signatures, reads.
Around the same time, Dani Elizabeth, who is a member of the Glebe Locals Facebook group, asked an online poll, which included not only parents, but a broader general group that was not just parents, whether they were concerned about the ads from Honey Birdette.
A whopping 86 percent of respondents “had no worries” compared to just 14 percent who did.
Honey Birdette has grown into a multinational brand after being founded 15 years ago in Sydney by Australian businesswoman Eloise Monaghan.