To question the protest over the Sainsburys mug

[LadyLightning]

I work in mental health, have counselled many victims of domestic abuse and worked for agencies providing emergency support to people in danger.

I see the Matilda themed mug at Sainsburys has been withdrawn because it can be apparently be read as 'a brilliant idea. hit her'. Which would obviously be reprehensible.

Did anyone read it that way? I thought it was pretty clear it was meant as as 'a brilliant idea hit her'. Of course we have to take violence in relationships very seriously, but does this seem a bit overblown to anyone else?
YABU - the mug should have been withdrawn
YANBU - the protest is over blown

Have you got a link? I’ve not seen this. Thanks

I agree with you. Tbh, I’m usually the first to take offence but I think this is mad.

here is a link to the Independent article but it is in a lot of papers and news sources. Just seems to the a bit PC over load.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/matilda-mug-sainsburys-roald-dahl-hit-her-domestic-abuse-violence-a9679586.html

I read the article which contained the full quote before I saw the picture of the mug and I thought how can anyone take that the wrong way? But when I saw it I changed my mind. If it was simply written "a brilliant idea hit her." then fine but the change of font and the line break splits the quote into two so even without punctuation on the mug it reads
A brilliant idea
HIT HER
So I can now see the point people are making re DV.

I had to Google. In fairness, the change in font does make it look like separate sentences. Also, having read the book, seen the film and musical i wouldnt have recognised the quote out of context so with this one I see it to be honest.

Jeez..

It would never have occurred to me to read anything into it than the line from the book.

Some people justike to find offence it seems.

kingdomcapers - I can see what you mean, and perhaps if the font and size did not change it would have been better. But it wouldnt have crossed my mind to read it that way at all. Especially with the picture.

I saw this the other day (on here I think!)
I genuinely had to look at the screenshot of the mug several times, still didn't get the problem until reading the comments to see what it was people were complaining about!
It's a Roald Dahl Matilda quote, even if you don't know the quote, it's a bit of a jump to go "there"?!
It means an idea hit her, not she needed to be hit

First of all, Matilda has much better quotes. (like: She believed she could so she did)
But a mug that says "Hit her" isn't going to make men into abusers anyway, so it's a bit silly to get worked up about a quote that doesn't actually mean it's a brilliant idea to abuse your partner.

I was all set to agree with you until I saw a picture of the mug, and actually I think it's in really poor taste. I agree with pp that the line break and change of font makes all the difference. The world, and especially the web, is full of disturbed individuals and it was only a matter of time before this became a sick meme. Better that women flag up its uancceptability first. If it makes a difference, I've never read the book. If you have, and recognise the quote, it's obviously going to change how you read it.

*unacceptability

I think it could easily be read the wrong way - I was surprised when I saw the picture. But yes, I agree it's been blown way out of proportion.

I would agree in theory, but when you look at the mug, it's written like:-

A brilliant idea
HIT HER

I think the caps make it look like it's hitting her that they mean. I can't imagine someone making this mug without recognizing the double entendre.

"Did anyone read it that way?"
I did. The font change acted like a full stop to me, and meant that I mentally 'paused' moving from one line to the next. The phrases became detached from each other. Having read it that way first, I had to work to join them into one sentence.

I've never read Matilda. But it seems like a bit of a crap quote.

Poor font change choice.

OP I work in a similar field to you and similar to you I thought “people” were overreacting. The type that are permanently offended however on reflection after seeing the mug I’m shocked that it got past the design stage.
Agree with others up thread that the font is what makes it wrong.

It’s the way they’ve done the fonts, as others have said.

You’d think there was no one checking these things, what with the mermaid the other week and now this.

Again, people looking for things to be outraged about. I'm just so sick of it.

I'm sick of people who disagree with people complaining, because they think others should subscribe to their viewpoint! Such is life.

If people were genuinely concerned it would be triggering to victims of domestic abuse then all this publicity will mean the mug will cause distress to a much wider audience. It makes you wonder what the real reason for publicizing it was.

Here is the mug for anyone who hasn’t seen it. I don’t particularly think it’ll encourage domestic abuse but I do think it’s a strange design/quote, I wouldn’t buy it personally.

I wouldn't read it as a full stop. The A is a different font too so looks like each line changes

Hmm, I read it as one sentence but I can see how people could read it as two different sentences because of the font change.

I'm a survivor of DV and this doesn't upset or offend me. It's a slightly ambiguous sentence, grammatically, but the intention seems pretty clear (and harmless) to me.

I haven’t read Matilda and I don’t know the quote.

Looked at the mug.

Read it as “A brilliant idea. Hit her.”

So assuming not everyone knows the quote I think not overkill to withdraw it.

Unfathomable it was marketed without anyone pausing and saying ‘Ummm’

My brother would have loved it if I’d had that mug as a child. He would have!!! Every time I used it!!!!