People Are Upset At These New Naughty-Looking Valentine’s Day Treats

In a time when nuanced — and very necessary — discussions around sexuality, consent, and women’s rights are taking place both in courtrooms and in the court of people’s opinions, it’s not surprising that a naughty snack has gotten mixed up in the issue.

This time, we’re talking about a marshmallow Valentine’s snack from Britain’s beloved Poundland — a discount variety chain store. The company has come under fire after a shopper, Gemma Aitchison, slammed the store via Twitter for selling marshmallows shaped like women’s breasts and butts.

The candies sell for 50 pence (that’s around 64 American cents) and are packaged with words like, “A cracking pair,” “Be gentle,” and “Squidge my cheeks.” The candy isn’t allowed to be sold to anyone under the age of 18 (which leaves us wondering if any adults are actually eating marshmallows? Hmm).

Considering the fact that the British tabloid The Sun ran bare breasts on its third page for nearly 44 years (and there are other British papers that still do this), it’s almost not surprising that this candy is so popular in the U.K. For some, the candy is simply seen as a crude joke and nothing more.

However, plenty of people feel that this profiteering off of the sexualization of women’s bodies has gone too far — and that enough is enough. Aitchison sure did:

What exactly are you trying to say with these products @Poundland to the families who come in store?
No sign of any male things to sexually assault. No testicles to grab at? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/8m09ke99TK

— Gemma Aitchison (BA hons, MSc, PGCE) (@gemma_brett) January 9, 2019

A lot of people eat these sweets, it seems. Enough that they make their way onto social media:

And then there are the “boobs.” Would you buy these?

In Aitchison’s tweet, she writes, “What exactly are you trying to say with these products @Poundland to the families who come in store? No sign of any male things to sexually assault. No testicles to grab at?”

Comments in response to her tweet seemed to echo her perspective, suggesting that the sweets may teach the younger generation the wrong message about women’s bodies — that they’re meant to be groped.

However, there were people who disagreed, as well. Like this:

Others continued. One user said people should “get on with their lives.”

At the end of the day it’s a marshmallow yes their quotes on the packaging aren’t good but it’s marshmallows what part of that is sexual assault some people need to grow up and realise it’s marshmellows stop being so sensitive and get on with your life

— Ollie Freeman (@olliefreeman23) January 11, 2019

There were also tweets that weren’t in direct response to her story. This one has to do with the fact that someone got ID’d for the candy:

In the end, plenty of news outlets covered the story. The Independent covered it as well:

Poundland criticised for 'sexist' marshmallows https://t.co/bqGkzq4SeR

— The Independent (@Independent) January 12, 2019

However, Aitchison succinctly summarized her intentions with one additional tweet. We think this makes a lot of sense:

It's not about marshmallows any more than its about a lacey thong. It's about corporations pushing the message of sexual objectification, profiting from it and then dismissing the consequences. Not buying it as Poundland advises doesn't stop the impact in society.

— Gemma Aitchison (BA hons, MSc, PGCE) (@gemma_brett) January 13, 2019

Curious what Poundland had to say? They responded to Aitchison by saying, “We think it’s ok that sometimes we don’t always get it right for everyone. Because, frankly it’s impossible to do that. Just because someone doesn’t like something we do, we also believe that doesn’t give them the automatic right to stop us doing it for thousands of other people who like it. If something’s offended you, we won’t force you to buy it. It’s fine for you to look the other way and ignore it.”

Poundland clearly does things their own way to sell products. See below:

And then there are Instagram posts like these. Is this trying to promote a lipstick, or?

Either way, it seems that Poundland is trying to sell to a specific kind of audience. Some people might feel breasts and bum-shaped treats are okay, while others might find it offensive. We hope to reach a place in society where, whatever the issue, women — and people — don’t have to have these discussions.

Maybe you’d prefer a not-so-offensive snack? If so, try this:

Or maybe you want to stick to the marshmallow-y goodness, minus the boobs and butts, of course. We’ve got ya:

These confetti marshmallows look delicious! Wanna bite?

Then there’s this perfect hot chocolate. Get ready for Valentine’s day!

Let’s stick to candy that doesn’t offend this Valentine’s Day.