Mermaids - sinister photo

[IrishMumInLondon2020]

What are they trying to do here with the photo of ‘Jennie’ and her friend on the bed? Makes me extremely uncomfortable.
mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/mermaids-tales/

This is very distressing. The bedroom and costumes are akin to photos taken by the “adult baby” porn community. Photographing a child in this manner should be a police matter.

And why is Jennys friend much older than Jenny?
If its a stagged event, why is the photo op on a bed?

This is completely normalising, for children, a particular style within drag that taps into some pretty awful online stuff.

Dear lord, what kind of world are we living in?

rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/Scaredy_Kat

Actually just started watching this film by Watson and she nails the issues with this mermaid page within the first 5 mins (it's much longer)

Scardy Kat is a "bedroom queen."

Scaredy considers herself a "bedroom queen"—a queen who only does drag in privacy rather than a live performer

This man also has a girlfriend.

Is that supposed to be a nappy?

I would like to know how "In plain sight" violates the guidelines.

Do 11 year olds buy and drink coffee in Starbucks now?

All those sugary and fatty drinks, they do.

@Clymene

Those children are being exploited. Not just that one. All of them.

This. Its knocked me sick that page.

Wtaf. I actually feel a bit queasy.

Those costumes are utterly disturbing. There is a kink of men who like to be dominated/forced to dress up in female clothing and these are the types of costumes they tend to wear. Who are the parents who looked at that and thought ‘what a nice photo of my child.’

WarriorN thanks for that link, I've just watched the whole video. She's brilliant, so clear, so caring, so honest. And addresses just about every issue we complain about.

Apart from the fact that Starbucks in general is as grimly dated as McDonalds, and this kind of carry-on is more reminiscent of Madonna's "I'm still cooooooolllll!" than anything else, do these vulnerable kids know they are in an ad campaign, and were they paid? Because I bet they don't and weren't.

Thank you for sharing this. It really is undeniable that there's something very creepy about this charity and what they're doing. Not just the fact that they've done this, but they don't even see the very obvious problem with the photo. It's so messed up.

So many people will have been involved in setting up the shoot, at the shoot itself, production... then the designers, proofreaders, editors, whoever signed off the final format. So many people with zero spider senses.

'Scaredy considers herself a "bedroom queen"—a queen who only does drag in privacy rather than a live performer'

A PP earlier said it was a meet and greet at a set.

If the reason for the bed is because of the bedroom Queen thing. That makes no sense if they're having photos taken on a set...?!

That nappy pic is. I don't like it. Fetishy and just. Creepy.

And the bed and the kids toys... It just feels totally off.

How many people would be worried about this, if it was to be published in the Guardian/Independent, with Commnents enabled?
The problem is that those news sources are in an echo chamber, where real views arew supressed.

Actually, the lady just wrote my name and didn’t say anything. They never spell my name right, but it’s okay.

And yet the cup that Jennie is holding has the exact spelling that Jennie uses...

They're not even trying to be convincing with those Starbucks stories.

They make crap coffee anyway. The only time I've bought coffee at Starbucks was just at the start of the big lockdown in California last March (we were actually on holiday!) and it was the only effing coffee shop open in the whole of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties as far we could tell.

When a minority has corporate capitalism behind it, you know it isn't as oppressed as it would have you believe...

@AfternoonToffee

I don't drink coffee, but if I did and I went to Starbucks surely they would just write any name that I said whether that was Boris or Doris. Part of me can understand that it must feel positive when they call your new name but I mainly feel that the people in the article are simply being used by Starbucks.

Comedian Dave Gorman messes around with this. He insists that his name is "Cappuccino Two Sugars" and watches the reactions by other customers when it is said out loud.