EU retail giant accused of ‘sexualizing children’

H&M was blasted for a marketing campaign featuring schoolgirls dressed to ‘make heads turn’

Swedish clothing giant H&M has pulled one of its online school-season ads after being accused of sexualizing children. 

The advertisement shown on social media in Australia featured two young girls in black-and-white school uniforms holding pink backpacks. The caption said, “Make those heads turn in H&M’s Back to School fashion.” 

Some users criticized the company, arguing that the combination of the imagery and the tagline were “highly inappropriate” and amounted to “shameful exploitation” of children. 

“Parents generally prefer [that] heads don’t ‘turn’ when others see their daughters walking to school, on a bus or in class,” Australian women’s rights activist Melinda Tankard Reist wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Why would you want to fuel the idea that little girls should draw attention to their looks, bodies and ‘style’?”

H&M Australia causes outrage with parents after the brands Back to School Facebook ad featured an image of two young girls in school uniforms with the caption ‘Make those heads turn.’