Here's a part of my letter to Playtex:
I recently went with my wife and baby to Babies ‘R’ Us to buy a new cup. I found one of your cups (The Insulator) and read the back, to make sure it was BPA free. In the back, it said this cup was “Designed for Baby,” which means the baby will find it easy to hold and drink on his own. However, and this is the reason I write to you today, the following line said, “Designed for Mom.”
Now, as far as I know, I’m not a mother. And as your “Designed for Mom” section said nothing about breastfeeding, I assume you simply don’t want fathers to use this cup.
My wife followed me and pointed at the Playtex cup. “What about this one?” she said. I told her the reason we couldn’t buy this cup would be clear by looking at the back. “Why would they do that?” she asked me, immediately noticing the offensive writing.
Well, I didn’t have an answer. Maybe you do.
So on June 14th I got a letter back from Playtex Consumer Affairs. What was going to be inside? An explanation? Maybe even just them saying, "Women buy more baby stuff than men, so leave us alone." Anything would have been better than what I actually got:
Thank you for contacting us with your comments . . . We would like to assure you that your comments are important to us, and all of us . . . are continuously looking for ways to improve our products. . . . In appreciation of your time and effort in contacting us, please accept the enclosed coupon good toward your next purchase. . . . Thank you again for sharing your comments with us, and please feel free to contact us again.
Now, I know I skipped some parts, but trust me, a form letter is a form letter, and the skipped parts were just space fillers that said nothing about my original letter.
So thank you, Personal Care Representative Carol Crawford, for taking the time to put my name on the top of your form letter, and thank you for the $7.99 coupon, which--I assume--I'm now supposed to hand over to my wife.











