Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by John, California on February 19, 2008:

Lolita fashion is big in Japan because many men there do enjoy sexual thoughts of young girls. It is called "Loli-con" for Lolita-complex. There is a huge sex trade industry with girls dressing in baby-doll outfits and school-girl uniforms.

Posted by Ken, Pennsylvania on February 19, 2008:

Let's not forget that Lolita is an actual girls' name in some countries, (The manufacturer is called Scandinavian House, though who knows where they're really located) and perhaps this over-reaction is a perfect example of PC gone off the deep end. I find it nearly impossible to believe that anybody could have purposely done this and thought that it would ENHANCE sales. They named it after a girl. period. If it had been Hannah or Marieke nobody would have thought anything of it.

There's a good reason you can't find many (any?) German boys named Adolph, but it's rather silly to have to avoid using the name Lolita because of a book. Get over it.

Now if this was something that was overtly sexual and aimed at little girls, then I can see the problem. A bed isn't in itself overtly sexual, except maybe in a Puritanical society. Oh, now I get it... never mind.

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It's not just that "Lolita" is a character in a book, or even movies. Do a little research: Google "Lolita" and see what you find. Then Google "Hannah" or "Marieke" and note the differences. It's not just a book, it's a long-established, wide-spread, societal sexual phenomenon. To "not know" it is to be ignorant -- which is precisely what Woolworths was accused of. -rc

Posted by Laura, Boston on February 20, 2008:

People are way too sensitive. I've seen Lolita (both versions), I've read the book. I instantly recognized the name, but I didn't think "They're selling that bed so people will have sex with little girls in it!"

I can't imagine anyone paying $769 for a bed purely because it has the name "Lolita" on it (including a pedophile), any more than I can fathom refusing to purchase an otherwise functional piece of furniture because of the name attached to it.

Honestly, if someone has nothing better to worry about than how a foreign company names its products, that person should praise any relevant deity for the fact that he or she has no actual problems.

Posted by Peg, Bettendorf, IA on February 29, 2008:

Methinks Randy and some of the media doth protest too much.

It's a bed. It's a girl's name. Anyone who puts 2 and 2 together and thinks "pedophile" has too much time on his/her hands.

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I can tell you don't have any daughters. -rc

Posted by Andara, California on March 1, 2008:

I've never read the book. I've never seen either of the two movies. But I've heard the name Lolita as a reference to sexually active preteens fairly consistently over the last 20 years.

I'm a big fan of Japanese animation and comics, and Loli-con (previously mentioned to be shorthand for Lolita complex) refers to a common fetish (often sexual) based around preteen or preteen-appearing girls.

From there it's grown to a full fashion trend with Loli style clothes being notably frilly, often with lots of bows, ruffles, and lace; usually in pale colors.

A popular offshoot (also mentioned by another poster) is G-Lol, which is the Goth Loli craze which takes the basic Loli style and recolors it with blacks and deep reds and other colors, and sometimes makes the clothes a little more daring, but still nothing that would be unreasonable.

Culturally speaking, naming anything aimed at young girls in Japan "Lolita" would just be an indication of style. In the US and UK (among other places), it's not a name that conjures up anything you want to associate with your daughters.

Posted by Jeannie, Ohio on March 8, 2008:

My daughter (age 11) is a huge fan of Japanese anime, manga and rock music. I am more traditionally Euro-American in my reading and musical tastes. So you can imagine the mental picture that went through my head when my daughter first asked for a Lolita outfit. Needless to say, I have been culturally educated - but she still doesn't have a Lolita.

Posted by Theresa in Rhode Island on May 3, 2008:

This brings to mind my mindset when I first saw children running around in Aeropostale brand clothing... a store long-associated with men's clothing and pornography.

No, my 11-year old daughter does not have any, though her cousins do.

Sigh

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What, she prefers French Connection UK stuff? Their logo, of course, is "FCUK". -rc

Posted by James, Mexico on July 14, 2008:

Loli-con as a fashion started in Japan from people dressing up as manga and anime characters, something that has been around for a while. It's not just hentai that has girls dressed up in school uniforms, most action manga comics do too -- probably because the target audience is largely of teenage years. That being said, it was obviously named after Nabakov's book.

And yes, Lolita is a common name in many countries.

While I don't think the naming of the bed is anything to get too upset about, it was a particularly stupid move on the part of the vendors. When you name a product you research the name, and you don't choose one that could offend or even put off a section of your target audience -- in this case parents of young girls. It's the same reason you don't name an airline "Icarus", it's just not the connotation you want.

Posted by Jeff, USA on January 3, 2009:

Randy, the FCUK reply is one that would have been great for the newsletter, but a better comeback here would be to point out that the poster is confusing brands.

Aeropostale is a relatively benign clothing company, even if the styles are a bit tart-y for 11-year-olds. A&F (which owns Hollister, among others) was the purveyor of the infamous porn catalog. At least they didn't glorify murderers, like Beneton did in one of its campaigns ... Heck, you could probably do a "special edition" of inappropriate ads by clothing brands aimed at teens!

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Probably, but teens and prepubescent girls are two very different things! -rc

Posted by Jim, California on January 9, 2009:

I can't find them now, but a couple of years ago somebody showed me officially licensed Disney products from Japan: Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh "personal massagers." The one was topped with Mickey's gloved hand, and the other had Pooh's "hunny pot" on it.

I swear I am not making this up.