Customer hits out at supermarket giant Aldi for selling ‘sexist’ children’s books: ‘We need the conversation to become non-binary’
Frustrated Aldi customers have slammed the supermarket for selling ‘sexist’ children’s books they say push outdated gender stereotypes.
An Aussie shopper took to Twitter last week and said she was ‘disappointed’ with Aldi after finding two children’s books in the supermarket’s Best Buys section.
Girls can be Astronauts and surgeons! How about ‘What can you be?’ STOP the gender differentiation!’ she tweeted.
Another user responded to the tweet and suggested that the same professions could be listed in both of the alphabetised books.
‘I opened and checked. It didn’t which is why I was more irritated. Aside from the fact that it’s time to move to a non-binary format,’ the shopper replied.
‘We need the conversation to become non-binary. Wonder how many professions are possible for each letter of the alphabet?’
The shopper noted the books appeared to be knock-offs of the ABC What Can She Be? and ABC What Can He Be? picture books.
Boys are told they can grow up to be engineers, firefighters, quality assurance managers and race car drivers while girls are told they can be editors, fashion designers, queens, university lecturers and real estate agents.
Another confused customer shared similar images of the books on Twitter and described the titles as ‘unnecessarily sexist’.
‘What will she be? Maybe a fashion designer, but not a firefighter like him,’ she wrote alongside a series of photos of the offending books.
The shopper added that both genders were told they could be veterinarians.
Aldi is a smart choice for most things but this has disappointed,’ one tweeted.
‘What?! That’s very disappointing,’ a second said.
‘What if he wants to be an editor or fashion designer too?’ a third wrote.
Aldi replied to the twitter thread and wrote: ‘Thank you for sharing with us, we will share your feedback with the buying team to look into further’.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Aldi for comment.
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