River Island 'anti nag gag' pulled from website after being branded 'sexist' and 'offensive'
The Domestic Anti Nag Gag is being withdrawn from sale after users threatened to boycott the clothing chain
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River Island has removed a 'Domestic Anti Nag Gag' from their website after Twitter users threatened to boycott store over the "sexist and offensive" novelty item.
The 'anti-nag gag' is comprised of a football on a string and is designed to go around a woman’s mouth to ‘gag’ her. The product is surrounded by quotes in speech bubbles such as “have you put the bins out?” and “get your clothes off the floor!"
On the packaging, the silhouette of a man can also be seen holding his fingers in his ears next to the woman’s open mouth, with a speech bubble that reads: "Will you put a sock in it!!!!"
The item was available to buy in store and online for £4, along with other novelty items, such as the ‘inflatable beach boob’ featuring a bikini-clad woman on the front saying "Hey boys! Wanna come play with my boobie?".
The gag, which was not produced in-house, sparked outrage when actor and comic Jenny Bede tweeted an image of it at the Every Day Sexism project and her 5,000 followers, after spotting it in a branch of River Island over the bank holiday weekend.
The image has since been re-tweeted hundreds of times, with many labelling the product as "shocking", "outrageous" and "disgraceful", prompting some to call for a boycott on the clothing chain.
Ms Bede later called for her followers to keep tweeting at the clothing store until it took action over the "absolute atrocity they're selling".
After a spate on angry tweets, the item was removed from sale this morning and is also due to be pulled from stores across the country.
River Island have since apologised on Twitter for the "upset" the item has caused.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: "As soon as this product was brought to our attention we withdrew it from sale and removed it from our website," but refused to comment any further.
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