The French government is threatening to ban Chinese retailer Shein for selling a “childlike” sex doll online. Shein is scheduled to open its first store in Paris soon. File Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/EPA
Nov. 3 (UPI) — The French government threatened to ban Chinese retailer Shein for selling a “childlike” sex doll online.
France’s consumer fraud agency got an anonymous tip about the dolls on the site. It said their “description and categorization on the site leave little doubt as to the child pornography nature of the content,” said a press release issued Saturday by the French Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control.
One of the ads on Shein, first reported by Le Parisien newspaper, showed a life-size doll of a little girl wearing a white dress and holding a teddy bear. The description clearly states its intended use.
“This has crossed a line,” said France’s economy minister, Roland Lescure, said in an interview with French radio, adding that a formal investigation was underway, The New York Times reported. “These horrible objects are illegal.”
The company issued a statement saying it removed the items.
“We take this situation extremely seriously,” Quentin Ruffat, a spokesperson for Shein France, told BFMTV, a French TV channel. “This type of content is completely unacceptable and goes against all the values we stand for. We are taking immediate corrective action and strengthening our internal mechanisms to prevent such a situation from happening again.”
Shein will soon open a store at BHV Marais, a department store in Paris. But in the wake of the doll discovery, employees have protested the move, and some French cosmetics and clothing brands have pulled their items from BHV Marais.
Société des Grands Magasins is the French company that is helping Shein move into the French market. It’s the parent company of BHV Marais. SGM President Frédéric Merlin said in an Instagram post that SGM “obviously condemns the recent events related to the doll controversy. Like everyone else, I expect clear answers from SHEIN.” But he said it hasn’t changed his plans. “I have decided not to reverse my decision, despite the controversy and the pressure because we’re doing things by the book, with ethics and transparency.”
The consumer fraud agency noted that the distribution, via an electronic communications network, of representations of a pedopornographic nature is punishable by sentences of up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of $115,000. The statement alleges that Shein doesn’t effectively filter out pornographic content to protect minors or vulnerable audiences.
For this, the law allows penalties of up to three years in prison and $86,000.