[zakk]

Reuters
Posted: 2008-02-01 18:33:11
Filed Under: World News
LONDON (Feb. 1) - A chain of retail stores in Britain has withdrawn the sale of beds named "Lolita" and designed for 6-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active pre-teens.

Woolworths said staff who administer the Web site selling the beds were not aware of the connection.

In "Lolita," a 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, the narrator becomes sexually involved with his 12-year-old stepdaughter -- but Woolworths staff had not heard of the classic novel or two subsequent films based on it.

Hence they saw nothing wrong with advertising the Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a whitewashed wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard intended for girls aged about 6 until a concerned mother raised the alarm on a parenting Web site.

"What seems to have happened is the staff who run the Web site had never heard of Lolita , and to be honest no one else here had either," a spokesman told British newspapers.

"We had to look it up on (online encyclopedia) Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now."

Woolworths said the product had now been dropped.

"Now this has been brought to our attention, the product has been removed from sale with immediate effect," the chain said.

"We will be talking to the supplier with regard to how the branding came about."

Reporting by Peter Apps, editing by Paul Casciato

[Timbit]

How can they not have heard of Lolita?

[zakk]

I don't know.... but I was raised on Long Island, home of the Long Island Lolita, AKA Amy Fisher.

[Bluestar]

Is there a connection though? It's just a name. I've been putting off reading Lolita for 2 years now

[Timbit]

I think 'Lolita' is pretty synonymous with a sexually precocious young girl... and it's a pretty deeply ingrained concept now in popular culture. The Amy Fisher case that Zakk mentioned, for example. Even if you haven't read or heard of the book, have you all never heard the term "a budding Lolita"?

Or maybe we've become more desensitized to it what with the rise of raunch culture and all? Young Britney Spears and Bratz dolls for example.

[Variable]

Originally Posted by Timbit

I think 'Lolita' is pretty synonymous with a sexually precocious young girl... and it's a pretty deeply ingrained concept now in popular culture. The Amy Fisher case that Zakk mentioned, for example. Even if you haven't read or heard of the book, have you all never heard the term "a budding Lolita"?

Or maybe we've become more desensitized to it what with the rise of raunch culture and all? Young Britney Spears and Bratz dolls for example.

I feel dated. I've heard of Lolita, but I haven't got a clue what Bratz is. They're making dolls of sexually active pre-teens??

[displaced]

Originally Posted by Variable

I feel dated. I've heard of Lolita, but I haven't got a clue what Bratz is. They're making dolls of sexually active pre-teens??

bratz are extremely skanky dolls...the size of barbies.

to illustrate, here's a story:
my niece was given a bratz stuffed cat for her birthday, she became very attached to it so my sister let her keep it. my sister doesn't let my nieces keep bratz dolls they get for their birthdays. my brother took one look at it and said "I had no idea you could make a slutty-looking cat."

[MossadConspiracy]

hahahaha @ Lolita beds

[MossadConspiracy]

Originally Posted by displaced

bratz are extremely skanky dolls...the size of barbies.

to illustrate, here's a story:
my niece was given a bratz stuffed cat for her birthday, she became very attached to it so my sister let her keep it. my sister doesn't let my nieces keep bratz dolls they get for their birthdays. my brother took one look at it and said "I had no idea you could make a slutty-looking cat."

my sister banned her daughters from getting bratz too. i think barbie is also banned. just stupid overpriced webkinz

[Blue_Phoenix]

Really, people need to learn to be less sensitive.

[Pushpa]

Originally Posted by Bluestar

Is there a connection though? It's just a name. I've been putting off reading Lolita for 2 years now

Don't bother I could not get to grips with the tone and style at all - it was not humorous or even engaging in the least. In fact, it bored me.

And even if you might not be aware of the associations, (you would be a moron not to know, but w/e) you'd think there's be SOMEONE in your entire team who would know.

[zzze]

assalamu alaykum

erm i havent heard of it. Plus, it's just a name unless they had handcuffs attached or something

[Variable]

Originally Posted by displaced

The cat's slutty-looking?

What I can't get over is that the thing coms with a custom mouse and flash drive


I am dated...

[tinkerbell]

eeew i hate bratz dolls. so ugly and disgusting.

I never heard of Lolita up until now.

[Pushpa]

zzze & tinkerbell: oops, didn't mean to offend But I would expect someone in charge of branding and advertising to be aware of the possible nuances of words - that's their job, surely.

I guess if you are aware of the connections, the association is very strong.
And ditto to what Variable said