Crowdfunding push for ‘Slutty’ gingerbread axed

A London bakery has called off a Kickstarter campaign for its range of ‘Slutty’, ‘Bossy’ and ‘Sassy’ gingerbread women over concerns customers were confused about the crowdfunding system.

Hackney-based Gingerbread Rising said it is hoping its gingerbread biscuits – which are sold pre-decorated or in kits that allow shoppers to decorate the cookies themselves - will help redefine words currently used as slurs against women.

“If men behave in a bossy, sassy or slutty way, it’s seen as a sign of confidence and success, so why shouldn’t our ladies be wearing these terms with pride, too?” said co-founder Oli Kramer.

The business last week launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to raise £1,000 for extra baking staff in the pre-Christmas period to make the biscuits and kits but cancelled it yesterday (11 December) despite having achieved more than 70% of the target.

Gingerbread Rising co-founder Jenny Barthe told British Baker it had received a lot of feedback from potential customers who wanted the products but were confused by the donations nature of Kickstarter.

“The limited timeframe also worried us, as we didn’t want to lose all these sales if we didn’t reach £1,000 before Wednesday morning – so instead we diverted all backers to our website where they can easily choose and order the exact products they want,” she explained.

“Thankfully, the response from our backers has been great and we think people see our ladies as quite unique gifts, so we don’t think we’ll lose too many sales.”

Barthe added that the brand has received lots of positive feedback on its Instagram account Slutty_Gingerbread.

While the word slutty may seem controversial, the business insisted it was better to change the way a word is used, rather than trying to enforce a ban.

“Surprisingly, we haven’t had any negative feedback on the word – we always knew it was controversial, but we think people can see the injustice in the word’s application and find our approach quite entertaining,” she concluded.

...