Next Up: Tadzio Bed Set for Boys

Your prostitot news for the day:

An online campaign by a group of mothers has forced Woolworths to withdraw a line of bedroom furniture for girls called 'Lolita'.

The Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard designed for girls aged around six, was put on sale on the Woolworths website for £349.99.

Staff, it appears, had no idea of the sexual connotations of the name. But a mother who was browsing the site did, and put a message on the Raisingkids.co.uk website to complain.

She wrote: "Am I being particularly sensitive, or does anyone else out there think it's bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named 'Lolita'?."

That's from the Daily Mail, obviously.

Comments

[Nate]

"Am I being particularly sensitive, or does anyone else out there think it's bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named 'Lolita'?."

You're not being too sensitive.

[shecky]

"In order to avoid any associations with Nabokov's classic book, Woolworth's will fold the furniture combo into the Britney Spears Collection."

[Aresen]

"Am I being particularly sensitive,

yes

or does anyone else out there think it's bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named 'Lolita'?."

Maybe, but it's none of your f*****g business.

[J sub D]

Woolworths gets this week's clueless award.

[J sub D]

or does anyone else out there think it's bad taste for Woolies to have a kiddy bed range named 'Lolita'?."

Maybe, but it's none of your f*****g business.

C'mon Aresen. This is the free market in action. You make an idiotcally named product, potential consumers bitch, (feedback), you reassaess and change the STUPID, CLUELESS name.

[Shannon Love]

Staff, it appears, had no idea of the sexual connotations of the name.

How does anyone get through college without being forced to read Nabokov? For that matter, don't these people get junk mail? I seem to get porn spam with "Lolita" in it every couple of days.

[Paris Hilton]

That's hot.

[Jamie Kelly]

I wonder if they'll pull the John Holmes Erector Set off the market now.

[joe]

Staff, it appears, are a few points shy of a Mensa chapter.

[New World Dan]

Maybe, but it's none of your f*****g business

Actually, as a Woolworths shareholder*, it is my f*****g business. As a potential customer, it's them not getting my business.

*just making that up for the sake of arguement

[joe]

People who say a corporation had a lapse in judgement are bad, mm-kay?

[Steve Horwitz]

Jamie K wins the thread.

Funniest thing I've read all day.

[Mo]

Maybe, but it's none of your f*****g business.

Sure it is. As a potential customer it is her business. Woolworth's cares because that's a potential sale that won't happen.

How does anyone get through college without being forced to read Nabokov? For that matter, don't these people get junk mail? I seem to get porn spam with "Lolita" in it every couple of days.

I never read Nabokov, but I'm still familiar with the story.

[BakedPenguin]

That's from the Daily Mail, obviously.

It's not that obvious. It could have been The Sun, Kerry.

[SeeingI]

Thanks for the "Death in Venice" reference. Cholera? What cholera?

[Warren]

Just toss Lolita on the list with
Jezebel
Judas
Adolf

[Dave T,]

Woolworth's is still in business?

[Aresen]

J sub & Joe

Yeah, the customer has a right to complain.

I just get PO'd when people take offense where none was intended.

[Brian Courts]

The story of them being so clueless they had to look up Lolita on Wikipedia strikes me as too absurdly funny to be true. That impression wasn't helped by reading the rest of the hilarious send up it gets in the Daily Mail article which includes quips (complete with photos) that the "Lolita" set includes a skimpy thong and,

A pole for young girls to practice their pole-dancing routinue is just one of the items in the controversial Lolita range

[Your Good Buddy Johnny Clarke]

Allowing writers to destroy a perfectly acceptable name is socially irresponsible. From now on, all character names in fiction must be approved by the government.

[jackanapestarian]

So I guess the Little Himmler Chemistry Set is a no-go?

[some dude]

I must be sheltered and born after the 60's. I went to engineering college and never came anywhere near reading any Nabokov. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.

[Russ 2000]

The tastelessness of the name matches the tastelessness of the furniture.

[joe]

The story of them being so clueless they had to look up Lolita on Wikipedia strikes me as too absurdly funny to be true.

It's a good thing they didn't google it.

[Tacos mmm...]

Just toss Lolita on the list with
Jezebel
Judas
Adolf

I guess that, to be technically correct, they should also exclude Dolores, Dolly and Lo. The Humbert armchair is also right out.

[Colonel_Angus]

I had to look up the word on google because I had no idea what the fuck it meant.

Anyway, that is how the free market is supposed to work if it is given a chance: Something pisses you off you complain about it and don't buy it. Also, you can tell complainers to fuck off if you think they are wrong, that's up to you. There is rarely a good reason for the fascists to get involved.

And that furniture looks like a shitty piece of plywood.

[Stevo Darkly]

It's part of the Morningwood Collection.

[Kolohe]

I've never read Nabakov, but of course have heard of Lolita

I did have to look up Tadzio, however, so I may need to sit with paleos in the caf today.

[Prudella]

No one, but no one, is disturbed that she speaks about "woolies" on a family website?

Civilization has just suffered another petit mort.

[emerson]

Kerry,
I got the Tadzio reference. What do I win?

[de stijl]

You know how when movies get shot outside of LA, New York, Chicago, etc. all the hometown papers go crazay with reporting on what the actors are doing and how they just lurv, lurv, lurv your hometown?

I remember reading the Minneapolis Strib gossip column when Rick Schroder was in town for something and the writer quoted some make-up woman or someone who basically said, "Oh he was so nice! He even said he wanted to give me a pearl necklace."

I may have literally fell off my chair when I read that.

[Russ 2000]

[Russ 2000]

Great. Now my posts are being filtered for lameness.

[smacky]

Civilization has just suffered another petit mort.

Another orgasm? O RLY?

[R C Dean]

I had to look up the word on google because I had no idea what the fuck it meant.

I hope for your sake you did this from home, or you'll have IT and HR in your office on Monday.

[R C Dean]

It's part of the Morningwood Collection.

And we have a winner!

[Geotpf]

"Warren | February 1, 2008, 2:53pm | #

Just toss Lolita on the list with
Jezebel
Judas
Adolf"

There's a guy at my workplace who's first name is Adolf.

He's black.

He goes by his middle name.

[joshua corning]

Sooo..

I if i ever have children I can't use the otherwise perfectly good names Adolf, Hillary and Lolita...got it.

Strange that Joe is still an OK name to use.

[Jamie Kelly]

And we have a winner!

I already won, bitch.

[SIV]

How come the Brits still have Woolworths?
They are long gone here and I miss them. Roses is the only dime store left in my region.

[J sub D]

I did have to look up Tadzio, however, so I may need to sit with paleos in the caf today.

Me too. We can discuss paleo stuff like bowling.

[Peter]

The city I grew up in had a Woolworths on the main drag. It closed down and was replaced by a CVS. That's right, I went there!

P.S. Aside from being slightly less "old-timey", the CVS had exactly the same shit Woolworths had. And it was cleaner.

[LarryA]

Reminds me of the time Reebock introduced a new running shoe for women and called it the "Incubus."

That didn't last long either.

[Wicks Cherrycoke]

The Lolita name is as bad as the vacuum cleaner company (I cannot remember which but I think it was Hoover) that named a new model the V-2.

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

Oh yeah, the name really destroyed Lolita Davidovich. Are you people all 12?

[the innominate one]

Reminds me of the time Reebock introduced a new running shoe for women and called it the "Incubus."

better than "the succubus"

or the same

not sure

[Larry N. Martin]

Um, why didn't Woolworth's simply rename the set?

[OGRE]

Forget the ridiculously inappropriate choice of name...

Whats with the crappy press-board furniture for US $700? That looks like its made from balsa wood.

I could build something better with $50 worth of popsicle sticks and superglue...

[Jill deRey]

Looks like they've had to rethink their whole new product line:

1. the Ed Gein play-dough set;
2. the Elizabeth Bathory toiletries kit;
3. the Lil' Stigmatic's Squirtin' Flirtin' popsicle maker;
4. action figures from the movie Se7en;
5. the Buchenwald outdoor playset (oven sold separately);
6. Jon-Benet's Lil' Star home makeup kit