Hallmark delivers apology for 13-year-old "boobies" card scandal

This 13th birthday card is currently rocking Twitter, after it was discovered by Cheesyhel:

The message for adolescent girls?

1: Grow boobs

2: Get rich boyfriend

3: Profit.

The card was written up in Salon, so you'll probably hear more about it. Arnold Barton is a card company owned by Hallmark in the UK. But before you light your torches and brandish your pitchforks, the parent company has already made good:

So, whoever designed, approved and distributed this card is/was an awful human being. But Hallmark UK & Ireland did the best they could. It's a Twitter miracle!

Is this boardgame teaching tweens to be boy band groupies?

Go ahead and accuse me of being a dirty old man, but when I saw this boardgame featuring generic boy band One Direction, with the tagline "Be the first to make it backstage!" I did not assume the best.

                  

Here's how Hasbro describes it:

Make it backstage with your favorite boy band with the 1D GIRL TALK game! Can you answer trivia questions? Are you up for the dares on the "Will You Dare?" cards? You can earn a band souvenir every time you answer a question correctly or complete a dare. If you complete your player card and collect the VIP backstage pass, you win!

Okay. You can take this innocently if you want. But I am a cynical old ad guy, and I just can't see a game in which the objective is to take dares to earn a backstage pass for private time with some heartthrob band as having a good influence on girls who will have the opportunity to trade favours for celebrity access in just a few short years.

Blame my upbringing. I saw The Wall, and listened to Joe's Garage, at a young age.

F'd Ad Fridays: It's never too early to teach your daughter to whore

Jezebel reports that these thong underpants were part of the Kmart Girl Xpress line of clothing that markets itself to tweens in Australia:

They have since been taken of the shelves.

Gap Kids sells sequined hooker shorts to tween and teen girls

PR Twitterer @woodlandalyssa shared a link to this item, from the Gap USA online catalogue:

Available only in sizes 12, 14 and 16, these "Sequined Party Shorts" have just a 2.5" inseam, putting them close to the realm of booty shorts.

Is this yet another horrible example of the fashion industry oversexualizing young girls?

Gap customers seem to think so. From the site comments:

Click to enlarge and read.

Cue the social media outrage in 3... 2...