Woolworths hit by Lolita child sex storm
Friday, February 1, 2008 Woolworths has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown after targeting six-year-old girls with bed products named after notorious child sex novel Lolita.
The company initially seemed blissfully oblivious to any concerns there might be about the name of its new Lolita Midsleeper Combi.
But a rebellion by worried mothers has now prompted Woolworths to withdraw the bed set from sale - and order an investigation.
The name Lolita has long become widely associated with under-age sexual provocation, ever since featuring as the central character in Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel about a man's obsession and affair with his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
Eyebrows were raised when Woolworths' website began advertising the whitewashed wooden bed and desk, for £395.
A mother who noticed the unusual name rallied protesters on the Raisingkids.co.uk site, after asking: "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'?"
Woolworths pleaded ignorance with confronted with the concerns.
A spokesman said: "What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either.
"We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now."
The product has now been withdrawn, and Woolworths will ask its supplier to explain what happened.
Woolworths is not the first firm to be criticised for targeting products inappropriately at children.
Tesco had to remove a pole-dancing kit from the toys section of its website in 2006, following protests, and W H Smith has been criticised for stocking Playboy-themed stationery for children.
Other naming controversies have included the decision by the owners of Brighton's Palace Pier to call their new rollercoaster Zyklon.
They dropped the name after Jewish groups pointed out that Zyklon B was the killing gas used by the Nazis in their concentration camps.
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