Randi Martin, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – New sneakers aimed at pre-teen girls are getting kicked around by some mommy bloggers.
The reason: They’re called Daddy’$ Money.
Rants from Mommyland, a blog by Julie Miner, threw the first punch at Daddy’$ Money, a Skechers product.
After that, other mommy blogs got into the fray and TV ads for sneakers became a hot topic for moms.
“I was watching a movie with my children on a station called The Hub and I saw the commercial come on and I asked them to stop it and rewind it cause I thought it was a joke,” Miner said.
“So we watched it again and I had a momentary rage blackout. This was not OK.”
“The name is pretty obnoxious,” Miner says,
But what bothered Miner most was the commercial for the high-heeled shoes. She says she felt it was very sexual.
“Sexualizing little girls is wrong. And it’s not something I’m OK with.”
Meredith Jacobs, a parenting expert in Montgomery County, found the ads and website both troubling for parents.
“Look at the names of the sneakers, ‘AfterParty,’ ‘Wicked,’ ‘Kisses.’ It’s not for the girls to be able to make the decision that something’s wrong or not,” says Jacobs.
“This is really for the parent to step in and say this is not OK and here’s why.”
Both Miner and Jacobs object to the shoe that adds 2 inches of height to a young girl’s frame, saying there is medical evidence that it’s not healthy for their bodies.
Both believed the ad seemed to convey that little girls could manipulate their dads to get what they want – the money.
“Is it your father or a sugar daddy?” Jacobs asks.
“Is it setting it up as the daughter should use her wiles to get the money, to get these sneakers?”
In response to attacks on the ad and product, Skechers released a statement to ABC News, saying: “The Daddy’$ Money name and the collection’s advertising are designed to be fun and lighthearted. And we regret that some people have been offended by the name.”
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