It seems that the leaders of HCM City are obsessed by the city’s ‘image.’ However, many underwear stores there still display lingerie-clad by mannequins, flouting the city authorities’ June 15 edict banning their display at public sites or storefronts.

Is it true that the urban look will be worse because of these mannequins?

A store selling Taiwanese underwear at Tan Dinh market on June 24 still displayed at least four mannequins wearing underwear at its front. The shop’s salesgirls said they didn’t know about the local government’s ban. The shop’s owner didn’t tell them to change the display.

“Our customers haven’t registered any complaint. It will be very difficult for us to sell our products without displaying them on mannequins,” a salesgirl said.

Staff at a Triumph store on Phan Dinh Phung street said they had received an announcement from Triumph Vietnam about the ban, but it is really unreasonable.

The executive director of Vera, a big Vietnamese underwear manufacturer, said “This is over the top. How can someone say that displaying mannequins wearing underwear at the front of shops makes the city look ugly and is contrary to Vietnam’s customs and habits.”

“Japan, South Korea and China don’t apply such a ban. Fashion products are equal. It would be a loss for consumers and businessmen if we restrict them from having access to information about products,” she said.

Only in HCM City

A staff of Mitsuba company in HCM City said: “I’m not a bit annoyed to see underwear displayed by mannequins in shop windows. I look at them to know about new products in the market. I think any product that serves people’s lives is OK.”

“I have seen underwear displayed all along big avenues in Tokyo,” she added.

A staff of the HCMC firm Da Lua asked why “if customers like me don’t feel uncomfortable, why must we hide mannequins with underwear deep inside the stores? The sellers know how to display their wares to catch the eyes of customers”.

The ban naturally raises another question: If mannequins wearing lingerie are banned, what about mannequins that wear nothing?

An office staff observed that “the ban doesn’t mention bikinis. This product is the same with underwear. Why isn’t it banned?”

VietnamNet wonders if HCM City should organize a referendum to ask its residents whether mannequins wearing underwear really harm the city’s looks.

Le Tam