The Woolworths Lolita Bed, And More Horrors

Following neatly along from the "provocative schoolgirl" used in the Ryanair advert come Woolworths, who yesterday withdrew bedroom furniture for young girls which was being marketed under the brand name "Lolita".

With breathtaking idiocy, this marketing strategy takes us into the same realms of the lack of corporate responsibility as previously demonstrated this week by that worst of budget airlines. The company claimed,"What seems to have happened is the staff who run the website had never heard of Lolita, and to be honest no one else here had either. We had to look it up on Wikipedia. But we certainly know who she is now."



Whether citing the cultural ignorance of their staff is sufficient defense remains to be seen, but further investigation reveals other companies also selling dubious items - high street retailers WH Smith selling children's stationery branded "Playboy", BHS selling "adult" underwear, i.e. thongs and padded bras, and leading supermarket Tesco selling a pole dancing kit for young girls, withdrawn from sale in 2006.

As my friend Sizemore said, with just a touch of the sardonic, why stop there? Let's start marketing penis enhancement pumps to young boys, because, after all, young girls don't have a monopoly on vulnerability.

Such a focus on the very young seems to be a developing trend during this final, sickest phase of the post-Cold war period. The triumph of capitalism over idealism has put Mammon in place of aspiration, and the unchallenged markets are seen as a de facto international legislature, totally replacing concepts of social cohesion, accountability or ordinary human morality.

Watching the Cash Machine's excesses become ever more blatant, as endless scientifically determined detail is applied to extracting pitifully small amounts of cash from the mass underclasses, one can only hope that natural revulsion might be eventually translated into concerted, active resistance by those of us clinging to the vestiges of an alternative way of living.

Facebook, Fascistbook, Fastbuck

In Facebook, love costs just one dollar, which is either very cheap indeed, or massively over-priced, depending on your views. I've recently become fascinated with the fascination that other people are showing for this fast-growing social networking site. Apparently sane and intelligent people seem to enjoy this "walled garden" so much that businesses are banning its use in the workplace.

Facebook is indeed the educated person's MySpace -its clean lines and regulated interface a contrast to the teenage-bedroom style of similar websites. But, the dark side of Facebook is beginning to emerge. Is it actually amoral, in that Facebook allows groups such the far right BNP to operate unchecked, and contains groups encouraging anorexia in young people? And is this walled garden so very secure and safe? Recent glitches meant that emails and instant messages, none of which are supposed to leave the site, ended up in the wrong place, and caused real emotional problems and at least one relationship breakdown.

Internally, Facebook seems to be full of geeks in a fever of video messaging, crowing about the wonder of the system, the "traction", the "community" - micro-media exponents galore, commenting glibly one after another on the cleverness of their own high-tech take on this new world. I find myself on a deep level uneasy about this activity - are there not more important things to be concerned about than which tech conference to visit next and who to drink with when you are there?

Yesterday, it was announced that the Yangtse River dolphin was "probably extinct". I've not seen any webcam flash videos posted up in Facebook on this sad ending of life, an issue which most Facebookers seem to be failing to recognise, let alone take action, but then, maybe I've joined the wrong groups.

For me, Facebook is fraught with issues which mean I cannot trust it. Not only are there real issues about the ownership of content you create within the site - they own it, you don't, and even if you delete your account, they own the archive - the incredible amount of personal detail people are prepared to divulge, tantamount to saying, "I'm just popping out now, keys are under the porch" indicate a level of security unconsciousness which I find scary.

But joining groups within Facebook which relate to my real concerns? I don't think so. I don't mind belonging to "Bring Back Les Dawson" or starting a cause called "Podcasting", but, we live in the era of surveillance, and I live in the middle of the most surveilled society in the world. "They" already know too much about me, as far as I am concerned - and I'm not doing anything I need to hide. It feels so safe inside this walled garden - despite the holes - and this provides the same illusory sense of security as the developed world's wealth does. So, we feel safe, and we are safe, until the next regime change, when dissidents, free-thinkers and intellectuals will be only too easy to find, round up, and remove in the name of security.

I think it was Spike Milligan who said, "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after me."

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