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Pink glove clenched into a fist: Violent reaction to business idea
Photo: Katya_Havok / iStockphoto / Getty Images
New products need attention.
But the "Pinky Gloves" aroused outrage above all.
Now the inventors of the pink gloves want to take the period product off the market.
"At no point did we intend to discredit anyone or make a natural process taboo," write the founders Eugen Raimkulow and his co-managing director Andre Ritterswürden on the company website.
Their idea: women should be able to dispose of tampons and other period products "discreetly" with the pink rubber glove. But now the inventors are announcing the end of the product under the heading "We're stopping #pinkygloves". "The development of our product and the communication with it was not well thought out," they write. "People make mistakes - and you have to deal with mistakes, you have to learn from them and you should also be given the chance to work on mistakes." All purchasing and sales activities would be suspended.
The glove was presented last week in the Vox founder show "The Lions' Den". Initially, investor Ralf Dümmel (54) was enthusiastic about the idea of the two founders from Olfen in North Rhine-Westphalia. But the reaction in the social networks was very different from what the gentlemen had hoped for. Under the hashtag #pinkygate, feminists, among others, also took a stand against gloves. The product was criticized for being unsustainable and also sexist.
In their statement, the founders also write about the extent of the criticism: “What hits us very hard in the long term is the fact that we are exposed to a violent wave of hatred, bullying and threats of violence, including death threats.
We are attacked and verbally abused on the street. "At the same time, the young entrepreneurs assure us:" We have taken the criticism to heart and understood it. "
Now the “Pinky Gloves” inventors mainly want to return to everyday life.
Her pleading request: “We can no longer take this and we are at the end of our strength.
Please stop attacking and threatening us, our families and supporters. "
mmq / dpa