Disney's Dive in Underwear for Young Girls Raises Hackles

Britain's National Society for Protection of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has taken aim at the Walt Disney Co. for marketing underwear for young girls bearing the words "Dive In." The Dive In underwear are part of a marketing campaign promoting the movie High School Musical.

"This is part of a worrying trend of inappropriate clothing marketed at young children," the NSPCC told the Sun two weeks ago.

Disney attributed the Dive In underwear text to an oversight and says that the product will not be part of forthcoming collections

Sue Ralph, a British grandmother who bought a package of the High School musical underwear for her granddaughter, asked the store where she bought them to pull them from the shelves after opening the package and discovering the Dive In text. According to a post by Angie Felton at Parentdish.com, Ralph dismissed Disney's claim that the use of Dive In text on little girls underwear was an oversight, saying "...I don't believe Disney or anyone else is stupid enough not to realize the implications of the wording they chose."

Disney's Dive In underwear text is part of a growing trend of marketing sexually suggestive clothing for young girls.

Abercrombie and Fitch Eye Candy Underwear

Long before Disney's Dive In underwear came on the market, the retailer Abercrombie and Fitch was taken to task for marketing little girls' thong underwear with the words "eye candy" and "wink, wink" on them. When parents protested the marketing of those sexually suggestive thongs to young girls in 2002, company spokeswoman Hampton Carney defended the underwear as appropriate for girls ages 10 and up.

Hooters Girls Tee Shirts for Toddlers

Earlier this year, tee shirts for toddler girls emblazoned with the words "Hooter Girls Dig Me" and "Hope for Hooters" hit the market. Hooters is a restaurant chain known for sexualization of its female wait staff, called Hooters Girls. According to a copy of its employee handbook published on Smoking Gun, "The Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one in which joking and sexual innuendo is commonplace."

Dive In underpants by Disney are the latest entry into the marketing of hyper-sexualized clothing being marketed for young children, but they weren't the first and may not be the last.

Sources: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,403745,00.html#; http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1556538.ece; http://www.parentdish.com/2008/08/15/disney-underpants-cause-a-stir/4; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooters; http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/hope-for-hooters-infanttoddler-tshirt/73963524; http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/01/02/hooters-for-the-kiddies/.