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Target store chain void of common decency (ACTION ALERT)
AFA.net ^ | 9/25/03 | Don Wildmon

Posted on 09/25/2003 1:34:39 PM PDT by truthandlife

Would you believe Target has approved its Marshall Field's stores to sell a product called FCUK? Target must consider parents really naive to not know exactly what type of message they are "targeting" to our kids.

Here's how one mother put it:

I didn't see this on television but it was an advertisement insert in last Sunday's newspaper for Marshall Field's dept. store for a cologne and a clothing line aimed at teenagers called "Fcuk" and their advertising slogan to go with it is "scent to bed". I was really appalled at this and then a friend of mine saw huge posters promoting this IN the Marshall Field's store in my area. When she complained to a clerk about it she was referred to a manager who told her the corporate office makes all the decisions about what they advertise. Another mother put it this way:

Not only does the name make an obvious grab at the mind to be misspelled as one of the vilest slang words ever used, it also goes further to make its point. A young, attractive, half dressed couple are snuggling on a bed with the words "scent to bed" superimposed over their picture. On the inside where you can pull the flyer apart to see what the product smells like you read "open here to try fcuk her" and "open here to try fcuk him". On the back page is an offer to "get your scent to bed t-shirt". For a major retailer to promote and sell this type of product is reprehensible to me. I hope it is to you too! I think we need to pull out all the stops to let Target know they have crossed the line with our families.

ACTION NEEDED Will you join me by making an extra effort in contacting the Target corporation by taking action? We already know the Target will block emails sent through the AFA Action Alert system, so your extra effort is greatly appreciated!

Call Target's toll-free number and let them know how disgusted you are with their decision to sell FCUK products through their Marshall Field's stores. Their toll free number is 1-800-440-0680, extension 1.

Here's a note: You will be told that you are calling Target, not Marshall Field's. Don't be fooled by their attempt to discourage you. Target is responsible for Marshall Field's decision to sell their nasty product!

In addition, they may ask for your mailing address. We recommend not giving that information. By doing so, your home might become a target for receiving a promotional mail out for the product.

Additional contact information:

Headquarters Address Target Stores 1000 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55403 (612) 304-6073 Fax: 612-696-3731 Online comment form: Click Here


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: afa; clintonlegacy; culturewar; fashion; fcuk; friendsnotparents; itsjustsex; marshallfields; obscene; permissivesociety; promiscuity; sex; sexualizingchildren; target
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Remember, they do listen. Boycotts and emails do work. Here is proof.

Planned Parenthood Will Not Get Funds from Target Corp.


1 posted on 09/25/2003 1:34:41 PM PDT by truthandlife
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To: truthandlife
That really SCUKS !!
2 posted on 09/25/2003 1:35:56 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort (Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained by stupidity.)
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To: truthandlife
Threads relating to this have been getting pulled.

I suggest buying a case of this stuff before it is pulled form the shelves, and selling it on eBay to collectors 5 years form now.
3 posted on 09/25/2003 1:40:18 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
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To: truthandlife
I first thought this might be a hoax, but WOW! the word's spreading.

Hilarious, and ironic...

4 posted on 09/25/2003 1:42:40 PM PDT by Old Sarge (Serving You... on Operation Noble Eagle!)
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To: truthandlife
Let's not forget that au-so-funny blurb that was zinging around the internet and the grownups were chuckling over -- that "inventive" spelling blurg which suggested one only needs to "identify" the first and last letters of a word in order to "read". Ha, ha. NOT. I thought it was the stupid darned thing and mighty suspicious of WHY this "blurb" was zinging around the internet. Do not forget, also "inventive spelling" will GO PAST MOST ALL FILTERS ON browsers and emails. grrr.
5 posted on 09/25/2003 1:42:55 PM PDT by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: truthandlife
They have received my message advising them that we will not shop at their stores if FCUK arrives on the shelves.

And I was going to purchase a new Tonka trcuk for my child for his birthday.
6 posted on 09/25/2003 1:43:05 PM PDT by gathersnomoss
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To: Beelzebubba
In London there's a big FCUK flagship store close to Harrod's. It's an acronym for French Connection UK.
7 posted on 09/25/2003 1:43:23 PM PDT by Heyworth
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To: truthandlife
I dont know where I can shop anymore. Walmart's out, now Target's out. Where can a guy get razorblades and windshield wipers without paying an arm and a leg?
8 posted on 09/25/2003 1:44:25 PM PDT by natewill (Start the revolution NOW!)
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To: Beelzebubba
Wonder how one could go about acquiring a retail case?
9 posted on 09/25/2003 1:45:14 PM PDT by Chancellor Palpatine (Buddy Rydell from "Anger Management" is my new role model)
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To: gathersnomoss
They have received my message advising them that we will not shop at their stores if FCUK arrives on the shelves.

I agree, I will not be buying FCUK from Target or Marshall Fields until this stops.

10 posted on 09/25/2003 1:45:56 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
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To: Old Sarge
I first thought this might be a hoax, but WOW! the word's spreading.

French Connection UK was all the rage last year in the UK. Wonder why it took so long to catch on over here?

11 posted on 09/25/2003 1:46:43 PM PDT by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: af_vet_rr
Krap, I need a break. Too funny.
12 posted on 09/25/2003 1:47:08 PM PDT by gathersnomoss
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To: truthandlife
They know exactly what they are doing. Check out an email I recently received...

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.



Amzanig huh?

13 posted on 09/25/2003 1:47:15 PM PDT by Cousin Eddie
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To: Cousin Eddie
Butifl.
14 posted on 09/25/2003 1:48:17 PM PDT by gathersnomoss
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To: truthandlife
Anyone know what are the stores' websites are?
15 posted on 09/25/2003 1:48:48 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Babes should wear Bullet Bras - www.BulletBras.net)
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To: Cobra64
frenchconnection.com
16 posted on 09/25/2003 1:49:34 PM PDT by Heyworth
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To: gathersnomoss
Krap, I need a break. Too funny.

In retrospect, that was bad, but I saw where this thread was going (and probably why other threads like it have been pulled).

apologies if I offended anybody.

17 posted on 09/25/2003 1:49:34 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
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To: Cobra64
Go to the link on the article (very end of article)
18 posted on 09/25/2003 1:49:55 PM PDT by truthandlife
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To: truthandlife
 
          FCUK
 
 

Claim:   A company known as FCUK is promoting their fragrance with a "scent to bed" advertising campaign.

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2003]


Target store chain void of common decency

The Target corporation subsidiary, Marshall Field's, is actively campaigning for your children to purchase a new teen fragrance with a disgusting insinuation.

Would you believe Target has approved its Marshall Field's stores to sell a product called FCUK? Target must consider parents really naive to not know exactly what type of message they are "targeting" to our kids.

Here's how one mother put it:

I didn't see this on television but it was an advertisement insert in last Sunday's newspaper for Marshall Field's dept. store for a cologne and a clothing line aimed at teenagers called "Fcuk" and their advertising slogan to go with it is "scent to bed". I was really appalled at this and then a friend of mine saw huge posters promoting this IN the Marshall Field's store in my area. When she complained to a clerk about it she was referred to a manager who told her the corporate office makes all the decisions about what they advertise.Another mother put it this way:

Not only does the name make an obvious grab at the mind to be misspelled as one of the vilest slang words ever used, it also goes further to make its point. A young, attractive, half dressed couple are snuggling on a bed with the words "scent to bed" superimposed over their picture. On the inside where you can pull the flyer apart to see what the product smells like you read "open here to try fcuk her" and "open here to try fcuk him". On the back page is an offer to "get your scent to bed t-shirt". For a major retailer to promote and sell this type of product is reprehensible to me. I hope it is to you too!

I think we need to pull out all the stops to let Target know they have crossed the line with our families.

Will you join me by making an extra effort in contacting the Target corporation by taking the following actions:

1. Send a letter to Target and Marshall Field's executives by clicking the link below.

2. Call Target's toll-free number and let them know how disgusted you are with their decision to sell FCUK products through their Marshall Field's stores. Their toll free number is 1-800-440-0680, extension 1.

Here's a note: You will be told that you are calling Target, not Marshall Field's. Don't be fooled by their attempt to discourage you. Target is responsible for Marshall Field's decision to sell their nasty product!

In addition, they may ask for your mailing address. We recommend not giving that information. By doing so, your home might become a target for receiving a promotional mail out for the product.

Send your letter now!


Origins:   French Connection United Kingdom is a real company, a vendor of youth fashion, shoes, fragrances, and other items, and their better-known suggestive initialism, FCUK, is used to maximum effect in ads which urge their youthful consumers to "fcuk him" or "fcuk her." The company also announced the opening of their biggest store to date with a full page ad reading "The World's Biggest FCUK." (As a recent item of interest suggests, the order of interior letters in a word is relatively unimportant to reading comprehension, so people naturally scan 'fcuk' as 'fuck.') The advertising campaign for FCUK fragrance does feature an image like the one described above, "a young, attractive, half dressed couple snuggling on a bed with the words 'scent to bed' superimposed over their picture." Print ads for FCUK fragrance have run in the September issues of Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan women's magazines, and also in publications aimed at younger girls, such as Teen People and Seventeen. (Customers who spend $38 or more can claim a free T-shirt with the "Scent to Bed" slogan printed across the front.)

A backlash in parts of the U.S. against the company's brazen advertising campaigns has already led some department store outlets such as Kaufmann's to discontinue distributing advertising circulars or posting in-store displays for FCUK fragrance, although the stores still carry the product. (FCUK's methods of promoting their fragrance are hardly new, as Springmaid was only slightly less subtle in advertising their sheets with obvious sexual double entendres half a century ago.)

For their part, FCUK continues to play coy. "Our message is light-hearted and fun, and any misinterpretation is purely in the eye of the beholder," said Karen Gori, a brand manager for FCUK Fragrance.

Last updated:   16 September 2003
 
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  References: Sources:
    Black, Lisa.   "Clothier Swears Name Is Clean Fun."
    Chicago Tribune.   1 September 2003.

    Ethridge, Mary.   "Scent's Racy Name Raises a Real Stink."
    The [Akron] Beacon Journal.   12 September 2003.

    Kapner, Suzanne.   "Risqué Business."
    [New York] Newsday.   2 September 2003.

    The [Akron] Beacon Journal.   "Perfume Marketing Signs Taken Down."
      12 September 2003.
   
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19 posted on 09/25/2003 1:50:22 PM PDT by ZGuy
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To: gathersnomoss
I'm going to send them an e-mail telling them to go FCUK themselves.
20 posted on 09/25/2003 1:50:54 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Babes should wear Bullet Bras - www.BulletBras.net)
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