London Catholic school hopping mad over playboy bunny in W H Smith shops

BY FREDDY GRAY
A CATHOLIC school in south London has launched a campaign against the sale of stationery featuring the famous “bunny” logo of Playboy, the pornography empire.
Teachers at Coloma Convent, Croydon, were so shocked to learn that W H Smith sells Playboy items clearly aimed at young girls that they have organised a petition in protest.
Eleanor Kirwan, an English teacher at the school, said: “We are worried that girls are buying the stationery, perhaps seeing the pink fluffy rabbit and not knowing what it means. In that case, they are being exploited into advertising pornography.
“When you have got girls aged 12 or 13 years, that is pretty horrible. And if they do know what Playboy is, then the children are promoting an image which they are too young to be sold.” In the local W H Smith’s shop, in North End, Croydon, a small area upstairs is dedicated to Playboy stationery. Items include an eraser set, zip file, A4 notebook and a ring binder. None of them displays any pornographic imagery, but they all show the famous Playboy bunny against pink or black backgrounds.
Ms Kirwan added: “Our problem isn’t the fact that W H Smith is selling Playboy magazine to adults. But when I walked into W H Smith and saw the stationery aimed at children I thought it was pretty gross. It is prominently displayed in the stationery section.” The heads of Coloma’s have decided against banning pupils from bringing in Playboy stationery. They feel that such a move would only “glamourise” the products in the eyes of teenagers.
A spokeswoman for W H Smith said that despite the campaign by Coloma, the chain would not stop selling Playboy products: “It’s a hugely popular brand.
“W H Smith stocks eight different stationery ranges to offer the widest possible choice to our customers, including some of the most popular licensed brands. Our range reflects the current consumer trends through the use of licensed products. The Playboy icon has evolved to become a recognised and pop
ular fashion brand among today’s teenage market and is used by a wide variety of family retailers on different types of merchandise.
“W H Smith tries to strike the right balance in meeting the needs of all our customers – which inevitably means a compromise when customers have strongly differing views.” But Ms Kirwan is not satisfied with this response. “That’s just lame, Blairite garble,” she said. “They are putting financial gain above the well-being of children. That’s just disgusting.”