Gone, but definitely not forgotten…

In a new attempt to censor the general public, Diva’s Facebook moderators have deleted all customer feedback posted on their ‘reviews’ page. The company refuses to stop selling Playboy jewellery, despite it’s stores being hugely popular with minors. The company has received over 4,200 written consumer complaints to date.

Diva’s Facebook page says it encourages & values customer feedback (see above). However, management have just censored & deleted all customer reviews.

Below are but a handful of deleted reviews. Given the way Diva has publicly handled itself over the past 3 weeks, it seems the company is hellbent on cutting off the hand that feeds it. Apparently customers who have tried contacting Diva’s general manager these past 2 days have been told she’s just left the country.

4,000 official consumer complaints & counting…

Brett Blundy controls Diva Australia. His company BB Retail Capital is yet to pull the plug on Diva’s Playboy jewellery, despite receiving over 4,000 consumer complaints via change.org. In an unprecedented social media move, Diva just deleted hundreds of new customer complaints & has blocked innumerable users from being able to follow up on grievances via their Facebook page.

For the past couple of weeks, the company has not been replying to customer concerns (submitted in writing), regarding the new Diva range. Many customers have also found emails sent direct to the company have bounced.

Below are some of Brett Blundy’s other financial ventures & interests. Bras N Things & Adairs also retail Playboy-themed merchandise.

Artwork Copyright – Brazin/BB Retail Capital.

BB Retail Capital is based in Sydney, NSW.

Going…going…GONE!

This morning Diva deleted over 100 new Facebook customer complaints regarding their Playboy jewellery range.

In our 10 years of studying business practices, this is perhaps the most blatant example of consumer disregard we’ve come across.

Isn’t it counter-productive for a company to ruthlessly monitor it’s Facebook page & have to remove hundreds of complaints every few days? Wouldn’t addressing consumer concerns via one official statement make more business sense?

Rather than publicly make a single statement on their position, it appears as though Diva’s General Manager Bianca Ginns is now employing out-dated damage-control tactics. Today, Diva posted on Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Spring Racing, Celebrity Apprentice & InStyle Magazine in quick succession to try & drown out new consumer complaints.

Has Diva lost it’s credibility?

Colette Hayman founded Diva in Australia. She sold the business a few years back to start ‘Colette Accessories’. Here’s her thoughts on Diva in a recent interview. (Source:  http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/entrepreneur-profile/210411-2.html)

“Diva was my creation and a company that I am still very proud of….Nothing would make me sadder than to see it lose its credibility”. 

Hayman goes on to state: “Colette Accessories is a more grown up version of Diva. Yes, there may be a crossover of customer but my customer is ‘sexier’, she doesn’t buy Disney, she’s not girly. She’s a fashionista, she knows fashion and the current trends. I think we have a large point of difference in both our offering and image.”

2 points to note:

* Hayman confirms that Diva’s demographic is young, girly & into Disney.

* Diva recently used the argument that Playboy is “fashion” when they started retailing their new ‘porno-chic’ jewellery range to minors.

In today’s tough economic climate, is Diva trying to emulate Colette & nab some of it’s market-share by introducing this new (clearly adult) “fashion” line? Has Diva’s move backfired as they primarily cater to minors though?

At least 3,900 consumers think Diva has had a lapse in good judgement & should cut it’s ties with the porn empire. http://www.change.org/petitions/diva-stop-selling-playboy-to-little-girls

Today’s financial report brought to you by: Miss Moneypenny

There have been first-hand reports trickling in from customers confirming Diva has started removing remaining Playboy jewellery from the retail floor & selling it to girls from under the counter.

As a staff member pointed out on Diva’s Facebook page, Diva’s Playboy jewellery is reportedly 90% sold out now. No doubt this is courtesy of all the publicity their latest move has earned them.

So it seems the initial Playboy range is nearly all shopped & Diva has succeeded in making their $$.

Despite 3,600 people petitioning Diva to discontinue retailing the Playboy jewellery to minors, a Victorian Diva store manager recently claimed a new Playboy jewellery range will be hitting stores in November.

Who decided it was ok for Diva to put the ‘X’ in Xmas?

It’s roughly 11 weeks until Christmas – The busiest shopping period of the year for retailers.

Some Diva employees have stated (via Diva’s Facebook page) that the budget jewellery chain is reportedly introducing new Playboy jewellery in November, just in time for Christmas.

We’ll let you decide if you want to celebrate the season of love, joy & peace lining the pockets of a global porn empire & it’s licencees.

For us, Christmas celebrates everything that’s good & right in the world. Given the venom that’s been freely posted Diva’s Facebook page the past few weeks, goodwill towards all mankind has been in short supply…

NEVER underestimate the power of social media

This is what happens when a company upsets & then ignores it’s customers. Seems like the number of people who don’t agree with Diva’s decision to sell Playboy-themed jewellery to minors is gaining momentum.

How’s this Facebook page dedicated to unmasking Diva’s latest range for what it really is? We don’t know who created it, however, it certainly does get the point across.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diva-Accessories/209117459161073?sk=wall&filter=1

Copyright unknown. Apologies.

Is this how you’d speak to a 9 year old?

Before Diva launched their new Playboy jewellery in-store, this is what they posted online….

Considering Bianca Ginns (Diva’s general manager) confirmed to a concerned customer (via phone) that Diva’s core demographic is 9-13 year olds it’s all a bit creepy isn’t it?

If you need further evidence that Diva actively targets minors, check out this screen grab below from Diva’s website. How many adults do you know that use the term ‘BFF’? (Best Friend Forever).

Diva also advertises in ‘Girlfriend’ & ‘Dolly’ magazines – clearly not publications targeting adults….

They have tens of thousands of underage Facebook fans.

Artwork Copyright: Diva Australia.

It’s official – Diva has blocked concerned mothers from posting on their Facebook page!

Isn’t this an interesting & very telling screen grab (shown below)?

Today, a comment appeared on Diva’s fanpage from Diva moderators saying they’ll now block people who “spam” their wall.

5 concerned mother’s, who have been demanding an answer from Diva over the past 2 weeks, have now all been blocked from putting pressure on Diva publicly via their Facebook page. ALL their comments have been removed!

Take a close look at the comment below though….

It’s from a Diva fan. Diva allowed this to stay up, as Diva went & deleted hundreds of comments from people speaking out against their range.

The comment says “(Diva) Don’t listen to these old bags who have nothing better to do with their lives. F*%k of dumb b%#ches !!!”

Whoever is “moderating” the Diva Facebook page is doing a laughable job…

Why is Diva ignoring its customers?

Over 3,100 people have signed a petition to ask Diva (Australian tween jewellery store) to remove Playboy-themed jewellery from sale. http://www.change.org/petitions/diva-stop-selling-playboy-to-little-girls

Every time a signature is added, Diva receives an email from that person detailing why they’re against their new range.

Given this pretty clear feedback:

Why has Diva management been so silent on the issue?

Why have they refused to reply to customer’s emails & Facebook comments?

Why have they consistently refused to talk to any media?

Why are they allowing all their teen/young staff to abuse their customers via their own personal Facebook accounts?

Why are they deleting customer feedback on their Facebook page when it’s against their new range?

Is it because Diva CAN’T reasonably justify selling a range promoting a porn-empire in store that obviously caters to minors?

On their website (grab below) it says “At Diva, it’s about the customer, always. As our customer, you are our number one priority”.

This has certainly not been the experience for thousands of disappointed Diva customers….

Artwork Copyright: Diva Australia.

Proof that Diva’s new ‘porno chic’ range IS targeting children….

Over the weekend, quite a few (ex) customers took photos of Diva stores around Australia clearly showing how Playboy jewellery is being sold & displayed on the SAME rack as Disney & Winnie the Pooh merchandise.

Diva staff have said time & time again (via their own personal Facebook accounts) that Diva aren’t targeting young people. They claim their new range is just for adults.

Why display their new Playboy range on the very rack that caters to minors/children then? As seen in this photo, the ‘Young Divas’ range (on the right) that obviously caters to minors is RIGHT NEXT TO the Playboy range.

Surely, if Diva claims minors aren’t being targeted, they should have found a more appropriate place in the store to display their merchandise…..

Diva FINALLY replies to concerned customers – in their trademark fashion!

Largely as a result of the recent petition via http://www.change.org/petitions/diva-stop-selling-playboy-to-little-girls Diva has received over 2,600 emails so far from people who oppose their new range.

The majority of these emails have gone unanswered.

Concerned parent Kate Drury recently asked Diva (via their Facebook page) to please reply to the thousands of concerned consumers regarding them selling a Playboy range to a store that caters for kids, rather than ignoring everyone.

On Sunday 9th October 2011, Diva posted this reply to Kate.

“Response” – Now will you leave?”

Kate received the notification (shown above), however, when she went to Diva’s fanpage to reply, Diva had swiftly deleted their childish comment.

Luckily people had already taken screen grabs of Diva’s faux pas!

Rather than addressing customer’s concerns, Diva are just fuelling the fire.

Here’s another trademark ‘Diva’ reply to concerned customers:

Diva also swiftly removed their (aforementioned) childish comment, but not before people took a screen grab.

 

Diva contradict themselves & sell a 12 year old girl a Playboy necklace…

Are Diva executives hoping youngsters will think that the Playboy bunny logo on their necklaces is just another cute, fluffy animal & forms part of their more age appropriate ranges?

If so, it appears to be working….

As one concerned mother (Kitty Varcoe) wrote on the Diva Facebook page on the weekend, her 12 year old came home with a Playboy bunny necklace she just bought from Diva, not realising what the bunny represented. Kitty told Diva she was very upset that her daughter was sold this item given her age.

Kitty was then ruthlessly hounded & provoked on the Diva Facebook page by trolls for days. She spoke up strongly & highlighted that Diva is in fact selling the Playboy range to minors. She also told Diva that they are moderating their page unfairly (see below).

Kitty has just confirmed that Diva Facebook administrators have now blocked her from their page! Diva removed ALL her comments.  NOTE: All the trolls & cyber-bullies are still allowed to post, swear & abuse anyone they feel like on Diva’s fan page!

Diva’s selective moderating is also happening to others who speak out against the new range:

All the while, Diva has allowed the earlier jokes posted on their Facebook fan page about molestation & pedophilia to remain online. (Posters name removed – as a result screen grab’s been cut in 2).

Diva staff have stated (from their own personal Facebook accounts) that they aren’t selling the Playboy merchandise to children. This latest case proves the opposite.

Cyber-bulling is in vogue (apparently)

Diva Accessories recently told it’s young consumer base that Playboy was “fashion”. This in and of itself is irresponsible & very misguided. However, according to some of Diva’s very vocal Facebook fans, it seems as though cyber bullying is undeniably what’s “hot right now”.

For the record, cyberbullying is not on. It’s illegal. Cancerous. Vicious & poisonous.

Here’s a tiny sample of the hundreds of abusive comments taken directly from the Diva Facebook fan page. These comments have been posted online by teens & twenty-somethings as the page remained unmoderated for a full week. (*Please excuse the nature of these comments. We understand they may upset some, however, the truth needs to be told).

In reply to a concerned mother rationally voicing her concerns, a young lady posted this on the Diva Facebook fan page: “Maybe you give too many fucks & need to shut your hoe mouth”. 3 people clicked the ‘Like’ button.

She then followed up with some more friendly banter such as “dumbass”, “Cry a little harder” & “Do you want a fucking tissue?”

Maybe even more surprising (which is really saying something!) is that http://www.diva.net.au did NOTHING to moderate or remove this post. They allowed this girl & her friends to KEEP POSTING! (Despite concerned calls for action).

All we can say is, keeping fan numbers up must really mean a lot to Diva!

A week in, these comments are still on the Diva Facebook fan page.

Why Diva has failed as a socially responsible corporation.

As Australian consumers, we have seen that Diva has failed in several ways, some of which are explained here:

1. They’ve failed to explain or justify to consumers (after thousands of concerns have been raised) why they’re selling jewellery that promotes a porn empire, in a store that caters primarily to young people.

2. They’ve failed to properly address customers concerns in emails they’ve received,(Preferring to initially just churn out a generic response to everyone). After a few days of receiving feedback, they’ve stopped replying to customers alltogether.

3. They’ve failed to adequately moderate their Facebook fan page, sending the message to all their young users that it’s ok to cyber bully & make jokes about pedophilia & molestation.

This is what hate looks like.

For anyone wondering what hate looks like, a quick visit to Diva’s Facebook fan page should clear things up.

In under a week, over 300 derogatory remarks have been listed on the Diva fan page.

Insults relating to concerned customer’s gender, intelligence, sexual orientation, race, disabilities & weight have spewed forth unrelentingly.

One ‘fan’ even went as far as taunting a concerned customer suggesting they’d do well to take their own life because of their appearance. Diva was no-where to be found the entire week & did not moderate their page.

On Tues 4th Oct, someone claimed on the Diva page that Facebook staff themselves removed a small handful of inappropriate content from the page where Diva as a company failed to do so.

Is Diva is hoping the entire issue & illegal nature of comments on their fan page will just go away?

Numerous emails & demands for swift action to Diva’s General Manager Bianca Ginns about moderating the fan page have gone unanswered.

The entire handling of the issue by Diva management has been revelatory & speaks volumes of the company’s (lack of) ethics.

They’ve allowed jokes about paedophilia & molestation to stay online.

The fact that many of Diva’s current & past employees have hurled abuse at concerned customers (from their own private Facebook accounts) also strangely went un-supervised by the company.

(Bad) news travels fast

Not everyone agrees with Diva’s decision to turn it’s young customers into walking billboards for the porn industry.

….& thankfully, not all press is good press.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/10472026/girls-a-target-of-porn/

http://life.salon.com/2011/09/29/playboy_wants_your_tween/

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/prtporno-playboy-jewels-spark-social-media-slinging-match-20110929-1kz53.html

http://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article.aspx?id=1921&h=Playboy-jewellery-ignites-Facebook-fury&vc=341

http://www.thefamilyfactor.com/2011/10/playboy-diva-our-little-girls-are-off.html

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/calls-for-jewellery-retailer-diva-to-dump-playboy-link/story-fn7x8me2-1226161589014

http://collectiveshout.org/2011/10/video-petition-calls-on-diva-to-withdraw-playboy-range/

http://enlighteneducation.edublogs.org/2011/10/02/playboy-for-diva-now-young-girls-can-help-prop-up-a-failing-porn-company/

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/26803872/outrage-over-raunchy-jewellery/

http://howfastcanavango.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-cant-our-kids-be-kids.html

http://www.kf2bk.com/latest_news.htm&news_id=56

http://thewall.com.au/topics/54539-diva-selling-playboy-brand-to-girls

http://melindatankardreist.com/2011/09/diva-pimps-playboy-to-girls-collective-shout-calls-for-boycott/

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/prtporno-playboy-jewels-spark-social-media-slinging-match-20110929-1kz53.html

http://charmingbodicea.blogspot.com/2011/10/bad-retro.html

http://motherhugger.blogspot.com/2011/10/playboy-at-diva.html

http://christiangleanings.com/2011/10/playboy-diva/

https://twitter.com/#!/bwhc/statuses/121010362907762688

http://jewellery24.eu/2011/10/calls-for-jewellery-retailer-diva-to-dump-playboy-link-herald-sun

http://janebqutoj1.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/social-media-war-launched-against-tween-jewellery-brand/

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/lifestyle/style/fashion/prtporno-playboy-jewels-spark-social-media-slinging-match/2308862.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL0SXJqa78o

http://www.theweddingringblog.com/2011/10/diva-playboy-jewelry-facebook.html

http://womensvoicesforchange.org/little-girls-next-door-playboy-jewelry-for-tweens.htm

Does Diva’s latest press release promote Pedophilia? You be the judge…..

Diva publicly introduced their new ‘porno-chic’ range via an official press statement, as “just the right amount of sexiness, Playboy…will have every *girl* feeling glamorous.”

As someone aptly stated on their Facebook fan page, “Hate to state the obvious, but any adult who thinks ANY amount of sexiness is ok for girls is a Pedophile”.

Diva’s move angered thousands of Australian consumers & the issue received great local & international press in a short amount of time.

As of last week, Diva’s Facebook & Twitter pages were inundated with comments from a broad spectrum of people, concerned with their new range & the underlying issues at play. https://www.facebook.com/divafanpage

Looking at the figures, most of their Facebook posters emphatically disagree with the new range, especially since it retails alongside Disney & Winnie the Pooh offerings.

The people who agree with the range have identified themselves as: Numerous staff members, ex-staff, trolls, a handful of teen girls & boys, a couple of young mothers & someone from the adult entertainment industry.

People against the range have identified themselves as: Mother’s, fathers, teen girls, children’s advocates, teachers, school principals, women’s rights leaders, social activists & health-care professionals.

A petition launched by women’s advocacy group ‘Collective Shout’ against the range via change.org has been widely supported in a very small amount of time.

http://www.change.org/petitions/wwwdivanetau-remove-all-playboy-products-from-sale

Diva Accessories – Australian Case Study

On Wednesday 28th September Australian nationwide budget jewellery chain Diva http://www.diva.net.au/ decided to publicly align themselves with the world’s most recognisable pornographic brand: Playboy.

They introduced a range of jewellery that (amongst other things) features the porn conglomerate’s logo. (Other pieces included a charm of a ladies backside & legs).

Many people feel that one of the problems with Diva selling Playboy-themed jewellery is that (as the Diva managing director Bianca Ginns (bginns@diva.net.au) herself admitted via phone last week), Diva’s core demographic is 9 to 13 year olds.

Minors in other words. Minors, that most rational people would agree, shouldn’t be walking advertisements for everything the pornographic industry represents.

Minors who can’t legally purchase or view pornography.

What has ensued has become one of the most appalling displays of corporate failings Australia has ever seen.

Read on to find out more…..

PS – It should be noted that a PURPOSE of this case study is to:

1. Get Diva to rationally & publicly justify why it believes selling the Playboy brand to young people is ok (after now receiving a tonne of customer feedback).

2. To get Diva to publicly apologise for the venom they’ve allowed people to post on their Facebook fan page & publicly re-affirm to all that Cyber-bulling is NEVER ok.

3. Make Diva accountable so that they (finally) do moderate their fan page in it’s entirety & remove ALL inappropriate comments (not just the ones that suit them).

Corporate Failings – An introduction

This blog has been created to expose businesses & corporations that are putting profits before people.

Sometimes corporations fail to respond to the general public’s concerns about their products, marketing angles & business practices. In such instances, consumers still wish to voice their concerns & be heard.

This blog provides real-life case studies highlighting the growing & alarming trend of young people (often-times minors) being portrayed in hyper-sexualised ways by businesses & marketers, all in the name of corporate gain.

It’s also a call to action for ALL businesses & corporations that are selling inappropriate items to minors. We want to let them know (in no uncertain terms) that we will no longer be supporting them financially by purchasing their products.

* When customers names have been mentioned here & they’ve been quoted, permission has been obtained.

* We’ve contacted some customers to obtain permission to use their images/info here, but have not heard back. If you would like us to remove/alter anything please let us know.