Marks and Spencer recently updated there window in the run up to Christmas, although this window defiently sparked more negative press than they were expecting.
It didn't take long for the christmas window to upset fellow shoppers and passers by in Nottingham.
They had a large window which they had split into two sections, one side based around men and the second around women. In the first side of the window the company displayed suits and shirts aimed at men, with the caption 'must have outfits to impress'. This window was obviously aiming at men wanting to dress up possibly more than normal due to the increase in party and events around the christmas period with New year and work Christmas party's happening all over the country.The second window displayed a similar style window for women but without suits and instead small lace underwear, the caption read "must have fancy little knickers".
In my personal opinion the window on its own separate to anything else wouldn't have cause any offence or atlas less. The fact that male and female clothing have been placed by each other in one window and they have gone to the stereotypical man in a suit and placed women in small underwear is a blast from the past. There would have been a lot of other outfits to fill the window with on the run up to Christmas and they just picked the basic underwear is boring.The juxaposition is what makes it offence, to be me personally.
The captions don't help the case either, suggesting that men are out to impress and that women just want sexy underwear; materialistic .It also creates an illusion of a scenario where men go to work and come home to there 'women' in underwear.
With how society is changing currently and pushing forward I think it was a very lazy mistake from Marks and Spencer and the layout of the window has passed through many people to get to this point, to have not foreseen the effect was the store being frankly oblvious.
A campaigner altered the window so that it read 'full human rights' instead of 'knickers'
Fran Bailey asked: "Ok, M&S Nottingham, have we really not learned anything in the last 35 years? Or am I alone in finding this, their major window display, completely vomit inducing?"Speaking to the BBC, she said the display had "incensed" her for two reasons and had put her off from shopping at M&S.
"I think M&S using the slogan 'must-have' over Christmas fripperies is very distasteful when true necessities are lacking for many working and non-working people; the true necessities being warmth, shelter and food," she said.
"I also feel very, very strongly about the representation of women as being preoccupied with fancy little knickers, whereas men are presented as powerful and needing to be impressive".(BBC News)
The retailer said in a statement: 'M&S sells more underwear, in more shapes, sizes and styles, than any other retailer, especially at Christmas'. They also said the 'Must have' line was apart of a bigger campaign and would feature in other windows also.
Marks and Spencer's have not taken down there display.
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