I wrote a letter to Markhams

  • Scott Tubman
  • Oct 15, 2010

This week I wrote a letter to the clothing chain Markham’s. Here’s what it said;
“When browsing in your Kenilworth Centre store earlier this week, I was appalled at the overtly sexual messages on some of the t-shirts. The ones that stood out were, “I recycle girls”,  “I’m looking for a meaningful one night stand” and the shirt which has a picture of a boy and a girl with a heart on the girls chest and a heart on the boys groin. The wording read, “True Love”.

These messages are neither funny nor cheeky. They communicate a corrupt morality that is not based on truth. One night stands, treating women as objects and confusing love with lust does not bring pleasure or satisfaction. Furthermore, reinforcing these messages to men only dulls our consciences to what real love is all about. When you remove God’s good gift of sex from monogamous lifelong marriage there is no gain, only loss.

The messages on these t-shirts are offensive to my wife, as they would be to any women. Neither do I want my young son to be bombarded by this perverse sexuality. By selling these t-shirts, you are also contributing to a sexualized culture where my daughter is objectified for sexual
predators who think this view of sex is normal.

You should be urging men to take responsibility for their relationships rather than egging them on to promiscuity and objectification of women. These t-shirt messages are destructive for our whole community.

As a famous South African brand your responsibility stretches beyond the profit margin. Our country already has unacceptably high rates of HIV AIDS, child sexual abuse and rape. By stocking this merchandise you are complicit in these evils. I implore you to remove these t-shirts from your stores and stop pandering to the lowest common denominator.

Please reply and let me know what action you plan to take in regards to this matter.”
Sincerely
Scott Tubman

Their reply was to apologise and say that because they were generous financial supports of the ‘Act Against Abuse’ campaign, this demonstrated ‘we take this issue (objectification of women) in an extremely serious light.’ I replied by pointed out that it actually makes them at best inconsistent and at worst hypocrites. I told them I would publish this correspondence as well as pass it along to the ‘Act Against Abuse’ campaign.

It’s made for an interesting few days, and I’m looking forward to taking it further with Markham’s. But it has also made me aware that Christians can and should speak up against messages like this that fuel our already overly sexualised culture. We object for the good of the community, for our children and for the honour of the name of Jesus. We must never be rude or obnoxious, but if we don’t speak the truth in love, who will?