14 DAY TRIAL // Nowadays, everything that you might joke about with your friends can be dubbed insulting and conducive to harassment, if it is written on a label of any kind.
Burt's Bees put out an “insulting moisturizer” that includes a reference to “catcalling” in the “how do you use it” description.
The “Vanilla Flame Body Butter” featured a scenario and mentioned using the cream to make you feel and look more attractive. The target customers of the brand are obviously women, in this case.
“Soak in the moisturizing seductiveness of shea butter and indulge in the scent of vanilla and rice milk. And let the catcalling commence,” the description reads.
Since catcalling is street harassment, a petition was put up on Change.org, urging readers to write a letter to Nick Vlahos, vice president and general manager of Burt's Bees.
“To demonstrate your support for people who are street harassed globally, issue a real apology, agree to stop production of products that legitimize street harassment, and make a donation to organizations working to end street harassment and other forms of gender-based violence,” it reads.
About 2,000 people signed the petition online.
“The Burt’s Bees packaging pictured here perpetuates the myth that people ‘like’ street harassment that victims ‘ask for it.’ They are trying to sell lotion with the promise of the male gaze, when really all we want is lotion from a company that endorses our right to feel safe and confident in public space.
“As customers of Burt’s Bees, we’re sorely disappointed, and demand an immediate public apology followed by the immediate removal of the product from production,” the petition states.
However, Newsco writes that the product has been discontinued since January. The remaining stock was available in outlet locations and on the manufacturer's website.
The label was noticed by Colleen Kiphart, 29, a communications expert from Albany, New York, who tweeted about it.
The company has apologized and stated that their product “in no way encourages gender-based harassment and the objectification of women.”