April 19, 2018

"Are we still living in a time when blokes actually think this is okay?"

When 11-year-old Mollie McMahon called the owner of a Canberra workwear shop to ask if there was a possibility he could change the store's sexist advertising jingle, she did not expect to be abused.

Seears Workwear, a local institution, has used the same jingle in their television advertisements for decades. It's set to the tune of Click go the Shears, going, 'Get down to Seears boys, quick, quick, quick.'

Mollie's mum, Julie told Kidspot that Mollie was reluctant to go to the store earlier this week to buy a pair of boots. "She said to me, 'I don't want to go to Seears Workwear. It's only for boys.'"

Julie asked Mollie: "Why is that? I've bought my boots there and taken other people there to get kitted out for PPE [personal protective equipment].'"

Mollie replied and told her mum it's, "'Because of their ad.' And, she sang [the jingle] to me."

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbQxHwWp6h8&w=640&h=360]

'This is bullsh*t. Go and get lost'

Mollie, who had successfully asked the University of Canberra to change an advertising billboard to include women last year, asked her mum if she could call the owner of Seears to see if he would change the advertisement.

But unfortunately, unlike the positive experience she had interacting with the university, when she rang Seears things got ugly.

"I called Seears Workwear to question the manager about their advertising theme song, which goes, 'Get down to Seears, boys, quick, quick, quick,'" Mollie told Kidspot. She suggested changing 'boys' to 'folks', since it's not just men who need workwear or who work in trades or jobs that require heavy duty work wear.

"He said, 'Look, I was brought up in a different time to you... I don't want to hear any of this bullshit. Go on and get lost.'"

Julie confirmed Mollie's account of the phone call, telling Kidspot she made the call on speaker phone and that Mollie had introduced herself as an 11-year-old before she asked if he would consider changing the jingle.

"He said, 'I know how old you are.' And then he swore at me," Mollie explained.

"She looked at me with the most horrified look on her face," Julie said, telling Kidspot she had explained to Mollie before the call that advertising is expensive and it may not be likely that a small business can afford to change their jingle. Julie expected her daughter would be told that the change would not be possible.

"Rather than just say, 'Sorry, we can't change it,' he just gave her a lecture... 'I come from a different time. I know how old you are and this is all just bullshit and you can get lost.' And, he hung up on her."

Julie is, understandably, upset that Mollie had been spoken to that way. But she's also "infuriated".

"Are we still living in a time when blokes actually think this is okay? He targets female tradies in his store. There's a whole section for women and their PPE and their pants and their boots and all of that stuff, and this is the view that he holds of women," Julie said.

Despite repeated attempts to speak to a representative, Seears Workwear did not respond to Kidspot's enquiries.

'My actions really make a difference'

Mollie felt "pretty surprised" at his response to her question, explaining that last year she called the University of Canberra to ask for better representation of women in some of their advertising and had a very positive response.

Mollie McMahon, 11, with her proud mother, Julie. Image: supplied.

"We were driving past the University of Canberra and she saw two billboards," Julie said. "Both of them had a young man represented and the uni were communicating that they did different streams of education.

"She said to me, 'Mum, do they not take girls there?' And I said, 'Well I'm sure they do. Why don't we call and ask them?'"

For Mollie, a phone call and subsequent email conversations with a representative from the university - identified as Cameron - was overwhelmingly positive.

"Cameron was brilliant. He answered her questions and he took her really seriously and he followed up via email with a number of colleagues of his and then he sent her - it was a number of weeks later - he sent her a follow up email to say, 'Hey Mollie, you know I've been thinking about you and what a great kid you are and have you read this book by Malala?' And, of course she wrote back and said that she had. But he recommended reading for her and - they really took her quite seriously."

In fact, some months later, Cameron got in touch with Mollie again to let her know that the billboards had been updated to include women.

"So, she's like, 'Oh my god, my actions really make a difference,'" Julie said.

Two years ago, at age nine, Mollie was given a copy of I Am Malala. It's a book that has inspired her to stand up for women.

'That's what kick-started this whole thing'

When Kidspot asked Mollie if there was anything she thought it would be important for readers to know, she offered a book recommendation - and gave us a clue as to her inspiration - telling us we should all read I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.

"I read that book and that's when I realised what was going on with women around the world and that's sort of what kick-started this whole thing about standing up for women."

"You know I have to say that I'm pretty proud of her," Julie said. "I'm proud of her courage, that at 11 she's willing to make phone calls and talk to men about things and question her place in the world."