A retailer in England is selling a dance pole with a DVD showing the moves. The packaging is clearly designed for the childern’s market. It has been moved to the exercise department, and the store says it’s a growing English excerise that adults do.
I see that it even contains fake money to stuff in places for payment.
Pole-dancing workshops are quite popular for adults but I’ve never seen it suggested anywhere as a good idea for kids to get involved in it. I did one a couple of years ago at Spearmint Rhino Extreme which was a day-long session with a couple of the women who worked there.
I’d never realised it was such hard work! I’d never really thought about what went into putting their routines together and I must admit I went home (with my SR Grade One School of Excellence certificate!) with a respect for those ladies I’d never had before.
Hmmmm… I don’t think so, not any more than, say, this is.
I hear it is actually something people take lessons on. Used to be belly dancing, now this. Eh.
Oops… fixed link.
Yes, but one assumes that the product to which you linked doesn’t come with play money called “Peekaboo Dance Dollars.” I consider that to be a rather childish touch, probably pointing to the target demographic.
Apparently, it was also in the toy section, which probably led to more confusion over whether or not it’s for kids.
Yesterday’s thread: Tesco condemed for selling pole dancing toy - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
I was hoping that somebody would chime in on the fact that it was a excerise or not in England,which they did. The store chain has had some other not to ideal toys for childern in the past.
The packaging looks like something a barbie doll accessory would come in.
I was wondering what the English dopers knew about this case. Was it being promoted as a child’s toy at first as stated or not? This little gift item, would make for a pedophile’s wet dream come true.
It looks like the cutesy packaging (which might be appealing to kids, but I don’t think is cosnsciously targeted at them) might have caused some supermarket buying staff to miscategorise the item, or just put it in the wrong place in the store.
It was listed under the ‘toy’ section of the website, yes, with the only question being which data-inputter at tesco.com HQ decided to classify it as such. It was hardly a product that anybody had heard of until the story appeared as a ‘scandal’ in the Daily Mail (a right-wing ‘family values’ froth-at-the-mouth rag).
Maybe, but I think this is actually more of a joke gift item than anything else. I dunno. The instructional video (linked in another thread on this topic) was weird, again, looking more of a joke than anything else.
To be honest i don’t think the packaging counts for much. There are plenty of ‘cutesy’ packaged items in Anne Summers - often complete with faked up money/cheques and those are definitely not targeted at children. Besides which, I think a price tag of £50 is a little out of the reach of those “four, five and six-year olds.”
I think what is important to remember here is that the Daily Mail is well known for siezing upon an ‘issue’ and then blowing it out of all proportion. Some lunk at Tesco mistakenly classified it as a toy but the kits have since been moved so it’s no big deal really. Unfortunately I suspect they will now inundate their readership with similar examples of DVDs being put in the wrong boxes and whatnot.
What interests me more is that the newspaper is all up in arms that very young children might be somehow corrupted by knowing that pole dancing kits exist - so how did Mum explain the presence of a Daily Mail photographer without also corrupting them? :dubious:
i’ll just be off to dance round my Maypole now. 
PS, yes, i’ve heard of the kits being used for exercise/fun although the ones I knew about seemed much sturdier and less tatty.
I thought you were joking until I clicked the link.
This is a great example of the importance of context. If I saw this product in an adult novelty store, I wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. If I saw it in Toys R Us, next to the Easy-Bake Ovens and the Li’l Ballerina outfits, I would be shocked.