Thursday - November 13, 2008

blundering store gives booklet on sex positions to eight-year-olds in error. with illistrations.

For you folks back home in USA.  Sainsbury is a major supermarket chain here.  Also market/ department store and I think (not 100% on this) they have some big holdings in states.
They are generally more expensive then say their rival, Tesco. A mega as in HUGE chain of stores.

This is almost funny when ya read it but I can see where mom and dad aren’t laughing.

Oh yeah, maybe I should explain although I doubt I need to.  To “chat up” someone here is to try and pick em up. I never hear that expression back home though.

‘Try something new today...’ blundering Sainsbury’s gives booklet on sex positions to eight-year-olds

By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 2:02 AM on 13th November 2008

They probably expected a goody bag of some sorts as a going home gift after the primary school trip to Sainsbury’s.

But what the 42 children - not to mention their parents and teachers - did not expect was to be given a book with explicit illustrations of sexual positions.

And the advice under the dozen drawings, which feature in a section about saving water by ‘bathing with a friend’, reads: ‘Save water. Have fun. Just get out before everything becomes wrinkled.’

Other inappropriate suggestions in the £5 book from Sainsbury’s - whose advertising slogan is Try Something New Today - include encouraging readers to shave in intimate places, streaking, talking to strangers and handing out your phone number to five people on the street.

Inappropriate: Two of 12 ways that children were shown how to ‘have fun in the bath’ in the Sainsbury’s leaflet.

The book, entitled How To Change The World For A Fiver, was mistakenly given to the Year 4 pupils, aged between eight and nine, from Burton End primary, Suffolk, during a visit to the supermarket in Haverhill.

The blunder came to light only when a father heard his daughter giggling with friends as they flicked through the pages.

Engineer Andrew Dodd, 37, whose daughter Laura is eight, said: ‘I was furious. It was extremely inappropriate and irresponsible to give to children.

‘On the “Having Fun in the Bath” pages there were little drawings of about 12 sexual positions.

‘But the worst bit was where it encouraged you to go and talk to strangers. It’s the opposite message to what you should be giving to kids. I don’t think the school realised what was in the book.

‘The teachers were as horrified as we were when they saw it.

‘Laura thought it was funny but thankfully she didn’t really understand it.’

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: ‘This was a well-intentioned mistake. It is a very nice book about how to make the world a better place but it is not targeted at children.

‘The books were given to store staff by head office because they mentioned the company’s positive environmental activities.

Blunder: Sainsbury’s said they made a mistake giving children the book, which also encouraged readers to shave intimate places, streak and chat up strangers

A few spare copies were left over in the store which were given as presents to the visiting children.

‘The cover looks like a kid’s book. This was a mix-up and we would like to apologise for any distress caused. It certainly won’t happen again.’

But Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, criticised Sainsbury’s for not making basic checks before handing out the books.

‘This would be offensive to some adults, let alone children,’ he said. ‘This wasn’t a mistake. It was an unacceptable failure on Sainsbury’s part.

‘Young minds are the most malleable and this incident has robbed a large number of children of their innocence. They should be ashamed.’

The book was produced by a company called We Are What We Do, which says its mission is to inspire people to change the world one small action at a time.

It also produces children’s version of How To Change The World For £5 which is called Teach Your Granny to Text and has been sent to primary schools across the country.

Sainsbury’s is sending Mr Dodd’s daughter a £30 voucher to spend in the store.

http://tinyurl.com/564dh6

Posted by peiper     on 11/13/2008 at 05:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • UK •  
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