FAMILY OWNED, BUT NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY.
I have used Melbourne Brass and Woodwind for 5 years and until this time have been happy with their service. However, this morning I went in to buy a cleaning rod for my son's flute and was confronted by a violin with breasts propped up on the counter. I was told this was in order to 'advertise' their new strings shop just down the road. I asked to see the manager and told him that I found breasts on a violin being used to advertise a new music shop offensive. I also pointed out that a young girl of 6 or 7 who was learning the violin - or a young female violinist of 12 on the edge of adolescence - would find that violin - at their eye-level - deeply confusing. What message does it send? That violins are for men? That violins are sexual objects for men? That breasts are a catchy way to advertise your new store? This is a shop in a school belt and I see many mothers in there with their children. It is not an art gallery or an adult entertainment store, and you just don't expect to see breasts on the counter when you are buying a reed or some music. It just isn't appropriate in this context. And there is no warning on the door, so by the time you are in there with your 6 year old daughter it is too late to avoid it. The manager told me that 'Breasts are everywhere' and I should get over it. The nuances of the various levels of offence given by plonking disembodied breasts on a violin and using it for advertising purposes seemed entirely lost on him. I will not be taking my children (son or daughter) into that shop and I will never be shopping there again.
