A mom said she freaked out after learning an 'inappropriate' symbol was featured on children's underwear she purchased from a budget store.
Nicola Pritchard, from Staffordshire in the UK, has demanded that a discount store remove what she describes as 'sexually inappropriate' underwear for children from its rails.
The mom-of-three said she purchased a four-pack of girls' knickers for less than $4 (£2.50) from retailer Poundland's Pepco range for her 10-year-old daughter.
The 40-year-old thought little of the design until she brought the pack home and her child asked what the Japanese lettering meant.
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Nicola researched the symbol that is emblazoned on the front of the pants and said she was 'gobsmacked' by the revelation.
After discovering it translated to 'pussycat' or 'cat' in Chinese and Japanese, she lodged a complaint with the retailer about the 'inappropriate' symbol.
She also urged Poundland to pull the item from the shelves.
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In response, the chain said the pack were part of a Japanese-themed cat range but 'understand why' the mom was infuriated by the design in this context.
Nicola explained: "I had previously bought some [knickers] for my daughter with a different design and she had said how comfortable they were.
"I thought she would like these ones. They were in a pack of four and you could only see the front pair was gingham.
"None of them had anything to do with Japanese symbols apart from this random one in the pack.
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"When I took them home, she asked me 'What does this mean Mum?' I said 'I don't know, I didn't notice it'."
Only after using Google Translate and Google Lens did she uncover the meaning, saying that it was a rough translation for a slang term for cat, like 'pussy, puss, moggy'.
"If the pants had anything to do with cats, like pictures of cats or something like that [that would be fine] but there's no correlation as to why this symbol should be on there, especially on children's pants," she added.
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"I was absolutely gobsmacked. These [even] come in ages three to four in Poundland."
Despite the retailer assuring her it would investigate the underwear range, Nicola claimed she saw they were still being sold in the store days later.
"It seemed like they weren't taking this seriously at all," she said. "The fact that these are on girls' knickers is baffling. How it was able to get through production, I can't get my head round how it managed to get through and to sale.
"It's got no place on children's knickers. I think there's sexual connotations to it. It's not even the proper name for cat, it's the slang name.
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"I can't see any reason why they should be on girls' knickers. It's completely inappropriate.
"The idea that that's printed on the front of knickers for children turns my stomach."
Nicola noted: "I don't think they've done it intentionally."
A Poundland spokesman said: "While these are part of a wider Japanese-themed cat range that includes socks and vests, we understand why Nicola questioned one item out of the context of the whole range.
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"It goes without saying we apologise for that, and we appreciate her getting in touch with us."
Liv Bridge