Birthday "boobies" card "sexualising 13-year-olds" to be cleared from shelves after Twitter storm

6:28pm Friday 7th December 2012 in Bradford Photograph of the Author By David Barnett, Content Editor

The offending card, bought by Twitter user @CheesyHel The offending card, bought by Twitter user @CheesyHel

A birthday card aimed at 13 year old girls and which suggests they can get a rich boyfriend in a year’s time “when you’ve bigger boobies” has been roundly condemned for sexualising children.

Bradford-based Hallmark has said they will now track down every copy of the card in the UK and remove it from sale.

The card has been attacked as hugely unsuitable in the current climate of celebrities investigated for the abuse of children, sparked by the scandal centred on Jimmy Savile. A picture of the card was posted on the social networking site Twitter and quickly went viral, with users bombarding Hallmark’s PR feeds in both the UK and the States.

The card is sold under the Arnold Barton brand, which has a trading address of Dawson Lane, Dudley Hill, Bradford, and a registered address at Hallmark House, Bingley Road - home of the Hallmark greetings card giant. Hallmark said the card was produced before they took over the brand and is not currently in production.

The pink card, with a cartoon picture of a teenage girl holding a huge diamond ring, says: “You’re 13 today! If you had a rich boyfriend he’d give you diamonds and rubies. Well, maybe next year you will - when you’ve bigger boobies.”

Caitlin Moran, award-winning journalist and author of the recent bestseller How To Be A Woman, tweeted: “Sometimes I want to hide my daughters down a well”.

She later told the T&A : “This is a greetings card that greets a child with body dysmorphia, a future dependent on getting a boyfriend, and terrible design.”

The card was spotted by Twitter user @CheesyHel in Hertfordshire, who posted a picture of it and wrote: “it was in one of the local newsagents in my town. I had to read it twice, couldn't believe my eyes! #vile”

Writer, broadcaster and Guardian newspaper columnist Sali Hughes angrily said on Twitter: “Now Savile is dead, is there any ***** on earth who would buy this card for a thirteen year old girl? Sick.”

Actress, comedian and writer Emma Kennedy was almost speechless. She told the T&A: “I don't know where to begin with the criticism. Every atom of it is wrong.”

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine tweeted: “got to be the worst-taste greeting card you've ever laid eyes on”

David Dean, Managing Director of Hambledon Studios, part of Hallmark, said, “This card was produced by Creative Publishing prior Hallmark Cards acquiring the company in 1998. We are as surprised and horrified as anyone else to have discovered that there are still copies in circulation. The card has not been produced for over 15 years and would never pass our own strict guidelines of taste and appropriateness. We would like to assure all our customers that we will do everything in our power to track down remaining copies.”

Comments(21)

jacknbeanstalk says...
6:36pm Fri 7 Dec 12

lets save the children

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Albion. says...
6:39pm Fri 7 Dec 12

A poor reflection of today's values.

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Outraged English Subject says...
7:00pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Extremely sickening!

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yorkshiredude says...
7:09pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Savile grooms from beyond the grave!

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thruth9211 says...
7:12pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Of course its sickning

So is Barby doll, potraying a messsage of being under weight is good for your health and making you more likely appealling

So making girls wear make up so early is sickening, let them be kids

No one objects to that, so what wrong has the card company done

Get ur prioritys correct people

we see sexual incidents all over, just another extra card

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thruth9211 says...
7:13pm Fri 7 Dec 12

you people are so weird, you made savile a SIR and now

So ironic, love him and then hate him

Let him rest in peace now

BBC thanks alot, should have tried them then, when alive

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Thee Voice of Reason says...
7:35pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Is there anything these days that people don't get offended by?
It's in bad taste I agree but its trivial compared to real problems out there like the gangs who rape this age group of girls.

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DevonBull says...
7:48pm Fri 7 Dec 12

thruth9211 wrote:
Of course its sickning

So is Barby doll, potraying a messsage of being under weight is good for your health and making you more likely appealling

So making girls wear make up so early is sickening, let them be kids

No one objects to that, so what wrong has the card company done

Get ur prioritys correct people

we see sexual incidents all over, just another extra card
So exactly what are our prioritys seeing as you seem to know?! 'No one objects to that'? -- How do you know? You mentioned Barby Doll - makes me wonder!

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Hallmark UK & Ireland says...
8:54pm Fri 7 Dec 12

As the article points out, the card was actually produced by a company called Arnold Barton before it became part of our subsidiary group, Hambledon Studios. We are as surprised as anyone else to have discovered that there are still copies in circulation. The card has not been produced for over 15 years and would never pass our own strict guidelines of taste and appropriateness. We can only apologise for any offence caused and would like to assure you that we will do everything in our power to track down remaining copies.

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RollandSmoke says...
8:59pm Fri 7 Dec 12

The card just reflects the shallow objectivication that young women feel is required to be a success in life. Reality check girls, what blokes really want is a bit of intelligence and the ability to hold a conversation without going so high pitched that dogs wimper and bats crash into trees. You may find a shallow bloke that finds big boobs and fakery attractive but you wont be happy as there will always be someone more fake and with bigger boobs to take his attention from you.

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Thee Voice of Reason says...
9:02pm Fri 7 Dec 12

This is why people like Katie Price and the tools from the only way is essex are roll models.
Its why our TV's are plagued with the x factor and other **** rather than programs that stimulate the mind.

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Brannigan says...
9:27pm Fri 7 Dec 12

The card was in bad taste. It has been withdrawn by Hallmark and they have apologised. End of story - not exactly the crime of the century is it.
There now will follow the usual T&A forum rubbish where racism, religon, police, council and anyone else they dont like will be analyised and blamed!!

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Willard says...
9:44pm Fri 7 Dec 12

Brannigan wrote:
The card was in bad taste. It has been withdrawn by Hallmark and they have apologised. End of story - not exactly the crime of the century is it.
There now will follow the usual T&A forum rubbish where racism, religon, police, council and anyone else they dont like will be analyised and blamed!!
Ooh you know us sooo well. ;)

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lazybeat says...
12:15am Sat 8 Dec 12

and there will be no repurcusions against them

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jacko99 says...
12:48am Sat 8 Dec 12

'Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la la la la la.

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jacko99 says...
12:59am Sat 8 Dec 12

I wish everyone would stop criticising Jimmy Savile, he was a lovely man. When I was 8, he fixed it for me to milk a cow blindfolded.

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Mr Perks says...
2:59am Sat 8 Dec 12

jacko99 wrote:
I wish everyone would stop criticising Jimmy Savile, he was a lovely man. When I was 8, he fixed it for me to milk a cow blindfolded.
This wasn't funny the first time I heard it and it becomes increasingly unfunny with every telling. If you'd witnessed the affect that abuse has on children, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be telling such jokes. Anything for a laugh though, eh?

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thingybob68 says...
9:11am Sat 8 Dec 12

Isnt this british culture? Sexualise your kids at a young age, get them dressed up as prostitutes, abusing drink and drugs from the age of 10, kick them them out of the house when you cant cope with your wayward off spring and then let social services deal with them?

God forbid they should be targeted by a brown groomer when theirs so many nice, wholesome white ones about, eh?


http://www.thetelegr
aphandargus.co.uk/ne
ws/local/localbrad/1
0094485.Sentencing_a
djourned_on_Holme_Wo
od_child_rapist/

http://www.thetelegr
aphandargus.co.uk/ne
ws/10036964.Missiona
ry_at_Mormon_church_
jailed_for_grooming_
teenager/

Dear oh dear, it seems to be a daily occurance.

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thingybob68 says...
9:18am Sat 8 Dec 12

correction, its not british culture but chav culture, and since Bradfords full of chav infested council estates, it explainsa lot.

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Thee Voice of Reason says...
12:19pm Sat 8 Dec 12

Maybe they should be forced to marry someone against their will at an early age instead eh.

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spottedsnake says...
1:04pm Sun 9 Dec 12

This article shows me how absolutely stupid today's attitudes are. The modern obscession with paedophiles and trying to keep 13 year olds as children! The only people who would buy a card like this for their friends as a joke, are other 13 and 14 year old girls. The problem with today's society is that it no longer has a sense of humour. The card is 15 years old, so we used to have a better sense of humour then than today. Same applies to 80 year old "saucy" postcards from the seaside that now offend modern sensibilities.

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