Wow ... just, wow

Woolworth's stores here recently withdrew sale of a little girl's bed sold as the Lolita model after mothers complained. The staff was baffled about complaints at first, until they looked Lolita up on Wikipedia. How, seriously, how, could that happen? No one involved in the creation and marketing of the item figured out the reference before it went on sale.

In case you don't know, Lolita was a little girl in a book of the same name who was repeatedly sexually abused by her obsessed stepfather. The word has come to be associated with sexually promiscuous young teens. I'm really not a prude, but could we please not market things to 6-year-old girls that have a reference to sex abuse and promiscuity? Could we maybe put down the Sun and read a book once in awhile so that people get the reference to Nabokov?

The story also mentions that:

In 2006 Tesco ... removed its pole-dancing kit from the toys and games section of its website after it was accused of destroying children’s innocence.

Can you imagine getting a kid the Lolita bed and a pole-dancing kit for Christmas? Throw in some clear "hooker" heels and a belly ring, and she'll be ready for a job at Scores in a few years. Maybe it could be a marketing campaign; stores could package all of the above with a Stripper Barbie and call it a tribute to working girls. Actually, I shouldn't even joke about such things lest it show up in the next Argos catalogue!