Switchfoot - Please manage your responsibility to young people wisely.

Today I am deeply disappointed with San Diego band Switchfoot's response to Australian community concerns over their performance outside a City Beach store in Queensland tomorrow.

I am aware that Switchfoot has had a reputation of standing up for kids at risk in the past. Children and teens at risk are most vulnerable to the positive (and negative) influences of those that fill the role of a mentor in their lives. These children mostly come from homes where positive social skills are not readily taught and the value of women and children is not appreciated. Children at risk experience trauma in the form of being witness to drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, community violence and sexual exploitation. A segment from a charity letter to Switchfoot from Kim Goodeve-Green, Director of Center Operations StandUp For Kids,  confirms this to be true, 

"Because of the Switchfoot Bro-Am, we have watched SO MANY kids flourish. Kids who walk through our door beaten down in every way — physically, mentally, and sexually. Each child has a story (I say child because even though they may be in an adult body, they are still the scared child on the inside), and each one is just as heartbreaking as the next. Yet something happens at the Bro-Am. We watch our kids grow inside, we (the volunteers) have a chance to become family with our kids and this bond lasts throughout the year."

Switchfoot, these are some of the images of the real life situations these children find themselves in every day. 

Psychologists recognise that images such as these may often serve to retraumatise those that have been witness to or victims of such events.

"Retraumatization is a cyclical process with four interrelated subprocesses: hypersensitivity to threats to safety, exposure to triggers, post-traumatic stress reactions, and avoidant coping. Hypersensitivity to threats to safety causes childhood abuse survivors tend to feel threatened in situations which require trust and evoke vulnerability, powerlessness, and/or loss of control. Triggers are recognised as situations and events that cause abuse survivors to feel threatened and elicit stress reactions. Triggering is caused by the interplay of internal factors (hypersensitivity to threats to safety) and external factors (threatening situations and dynamics) and is associated with survivors feeling that their current safety is being threatened." (Healthcare Retraumatization Model, 2010)

Advocacy groups have been drawing attention to the effects of these abusive images for some time now. Cailtin Roper, the founder of the 'Say No to Porn T-shirts'  wrote an open letter last year, calling on retailers to stop selling porn themed products. The letter includes 65 signatories – child advocates, child development experts, women’s and men’s advocates, academics and educators.

City Beach has been mentioned in the media many times over the past months for their continued disregard for the healthy development of young people and this is why I am shocked at the response of Switchfoot to our plea.

This week, Switchfoot's management replied to letters from the community regarding their concert outside the City Beach store in Queensland tomorrow with this:

‎"We received your email regarding the objectionable merchandise sold at City Beach. We appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention. Although we are not responsible for what a retailer promotes or sells to its customers, we are responsible for creating an enjoyable atmosphere for our fans. With this in mind, we have asked City Beach to remove these items during our performance. We are not responsible for what a retailer promotes. 


We've always tried to bring our songs of hope across the globe to everyone- regardless of nationality, race, religious belief, or any other categorization. With this in mind, there are a wide variety of  people with a wide variety of lifestyles represented at our concerts.  That is our goal. And of course, not everyone who attends will agree  with every other person there. Even the venues we play are dramatically different from night to night. If you are offended by an aspect of the venue or the crowd, we respect your decision if you choose not to attend..." Brandon Ginsberg (management)  

"We are not responsible for what a retailer promotes." WHAT? That is an absolute cop out Switchfoot! In your automatic position as teen role models, you already have a responsibility for how you behave and for the products you directly or indirectly endorse. In my mind, you are essentially holding a gig for teens hosted by adult sex shop or strip club owners by performing with City Beach. By associating with a retailer that refuses to even acknowledge the offense that some of their merchandise brings to people across the globe, and the attitudes it promotes and entrenches in young minds, you associate your brand with their values.

"We've always tried to bring our songs of hope across the globe to everyone- regardless of nationality, race, religious belief..." Our objection to the City Beach merchandise is not one of categorisation; nationality, race or religious belief. Rather it is one of justice and human rights.  The merchandise we have objected to promote violence, abuse and exploitation of women and children.  This is a universal cry against pain, misery and tyranny. Unless the hope that you claim you desire to bring includes freedom from this scourge, the band's messages are hypocritical and deny the very core of what Switchfoot claims to stand for. 

In the words of Elizabeth Handsley (Professor of Law at Flinders University and President of the Australian Council on Children and the Media), "Nobody said they were responsible for what a retailer promotes or sells, but they ARE responsible for the retailers they choose to support and promote. Nor is anybody suggesting it's about people in the audience disagreeing with each other - like some people are going to be offended by the ABSENCE of porn?" 

In Australia, we teach our young people that rape jokes and rape themes are not funny! So please Switchfoot, take a stand and let the young people of Australia know that you do not endorse violence against their mothers, sisters and girlfriends and that you do not endorse City Beach with their blatant disregard for women.

Email Switchfoot's management here: switchfoot@redlightmanagement.com