PunkAssBlog.com

Dear TheLimited:

You’ve probably noticed by now the protests of a group called ForestEthics, who are annoyed that:

The racy lingerie company mails out 395 million catalogs annually, most printed on virgin paper.

(from Alternet).

Please, please, please do what these people ask. Actually, you should go a step further and send out fewer fucking catalogs to begin with. You see, when I was young and stupid, I had a Victoria’s Secret card that I used to purchase clothing and underpants from your catalog when you had you umpteen godzillion crappy sales. And while I still have some of that clothing, most of it was crap. That’s not my point, however.

My point is, that I could go for a month or two or more and hear nary a peep out of you. Just the regular, once-a-quarter deal. Then, I’d make a purchase. $30 for a dress here, $20 for a wad of panties there, the usual. Suddenly, my mailbox was flooded with catalogs. Once, two, sometimes three a week for up to six weeks after any purchase. Big, glossy, wasteful catalogs. More than once the same catalogue twice under two different covers. It got worse when I moved and changed the address on my credit card…suddenly, I was getting bra-and-panty catalogs at two addresses, one of which YOU KNEW I wasn’t living at.

Seriously, I was living with two guys at the time, and they were sick to death of knowing each and every time I bought new underwear by being tipped off by the flood of Victoria’s Secret catalogs. It was embarassing. And don’t even think they paid your models and underwear designers the compliment of sneaking off with a spare booklet and whacking off to it. Those things went straight into the fucking trash.

Eventually, I felt like used, like a whore. Was it the trashy undergarments? No, those were merely uncomfortable. It was the clear message you were sending me: sure, it was nice of me to purchase your products on your card at your ridiculous interest rate, but really, shouldn’t I be spending more? You people just got greedy, and it made me all cranky. Eventually, the flood of catalogs and the clear message to step up my consumption of your crappy crappy products persuaded me to cut up the card and not purchase from you again. I’ve moved several times since my last order from you, and my tiny apartment mailboxes are blissfully free of your detrius. I can’t risk the calm by ever giving you another dollar.

Anyway, people that care about trees should certainly check out these ForestEthics people. According to the AlterNet article, they know what they’re doing. And, uh, do something activisty, like writing a letter to theLimited. I think I’ll go do that now.

Updated to add: There is a template for sending an email or fax at Victoria’s Dirty Secret.