Boots drops sexualised make-up after mum speaks out

A mum who was shocked by her daughter’s sexualised make-up has succeeded in encouraging Boots to drop the product.

Angela Fitzsimons complained to the retailer over names such as “homewrecker”, “sugar daddy” and “foreplay” that featured on the ‘Obsessive Eyes’ product.

It has now been removed – although a similar product remains on the Boots website.

Gratuitous

Fitzsimons complained about the eye make-up after her 17-year-old daughter Grace brought it home, saying that the low price will appeal to even younger girls.

“It’s completely unnecessary. It’s gratuitous and crude. I think they did it for the shock value.”

“It’s over-sexualising children and is completely demeaning”, she said, adding, “it’s like it’s saying you should be proud to be a homewrecker”.

“It sends out the wrong message and it normalises these words for teens. It’s provocative for the sake of being provocative.”

Listening

Boots said the product was not marketed to children, but has now stopped all sales of the particular make-up.

Obsession, the brand behind the product, released a statement through the high street retailer.

It admitted that “some of our shade names need work” and said “we will not repeat these shades names, or genre of shade names, in future”.

“However, we also want to act now. We are committed to listening to our customers and reacting to feedback at speed.

Accelerate

“This complaint has made us accelerate our plan and we will remove this product”.

Although the specific product has been removed, ‘Obsessive Lights’ remains, which includes colour names such as “just a fling”, “honey trap” and “seduction”.

Last year, a pink neon sign encouraging young women to share nude images of themselves was removed after thousands of people complained.

Missguided

The sign stating: “Send me nudes x”, was in a Kent store of the women’s fashion chain Missguided.

Following a campaign which saw nearly 9,000 people sign a petition against the message in less than 48 hours, the fashion brand covered the sign and later removed it.