Playboy wearing students given detention

It seems schools banning Playboy isn't that much of a new thing. According to the Guardian, 2005 saw the Croydon branch of WHSmiths come under fire from a seven-strong group of Catholic school girls who were protesting against the stationary shop selling the 'suggestive' pens and pencils.

The girls claimed that they were protesting against WHSmiths and it's apparent prioritising of "financial gain over the moral offensiveness of using children to sell sex."

I bet in a few years at least one of those Catholic school girls will be caught leaving Stringfellows, velour tracksuit on and carrying a Playboy bag...

Good question Rich... And that's the magic and the power of brands. I bet most kids these days who have playboy track pants and playboy shoelaces know what Playboy is only because of the brand association -- they've heard about it, it gets loads of visibility, it's glamourised, that little bunny is put all over clothes and accessories and stickers and other random things that shouldn't have brands at all -- not because they're diehard fans of the rag (they read it for the articles, right?) and have an annual subscription.

And kids are not stupid. They wear playboy branded items because they're making a statement about themselves as an 'individual' (debatable term). They're drawing attention to a certain part of their personality that they want people to know about. Unless this kid was living in a cave for his entire life and just thinks bunnies are 'cute,' he has to know that logos and brands carry heavy associations... especially the Playboy bunny.

That being said, I don't think that the kid should have been given detention, however, school policy is school policy and you can't play dumb with something like this. I find it frustrating how branded some clothing is. Sometimes I want to buy a jumper because it fits nicely and it's comfortable, but I won't because it has some horrible logo plastered all over the back of it. I don't want to be a walking billboard. Others do. It's a choice. To be or to not be branded.