UK smoothies and drinks company, Innocent Drinks, has deleted a Twitter thread which promoted the controversial transgender youth advocacy charity Mermaids.
The company issued a statement informing its followers it had deleted the tweets – which followed a storm of pushback from internet users.
Mermaids has long been a source of contention due to various scandals involving the trans youth charity. In October, a trustee was forced to resign after he was questioned by media about a presentation he gave on paedophilia.
Dr Jacob Breslow, an associate professor at the London School of Economics, tendered his “immediate resignation” from Mermaids when asked to comment on the 2011 presentation by The Times.
Breslow gave the presentation at a conference organised by an American charity called B4U-ACT. B4U-ACT describes itself as a charity “run in collaboration between mental health professionals, researchers, and people who are attracted to minors.”
Mermaids has also faced questions over its referral of UK children to the disgraced and now closed Tavistock gender clinic.
In December, the UK Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into Mermaids, after it was revealed that it gave chest-binding devices to children as young as thirteen without securing parental consent.
The registered charity says its purpose is to cater for “transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families” and has operated with an unquestioning approach to children seeking its services adopting ‘gender affirmation’ tactics.
And just this week, bombshell reports revealed that the charity sent children to Tavistock for gender transition even when their GPs had “repeatedly refused to do so”.
The charity’s ex-chief Susie Green, who has no known medical training, said to have a direct line to clinic director Dr Polly Carmichael, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
“She reportedly demanded to be regarded as a ‘professional’ so she could send referrals for young people who were unsupported by their GP. In one case she was said to have sent one noting that the GP ‘has consistently refused to refer’”.
Despite the scandals surrounding Mermaids, Innocent Drinks said it had invited the charity to deliver a workshop to staff — sharing some of what it had “learned” from Mermaids in the now deleted Twitter thread, which was inundated with negative comments.
The thread explained terms such as ‘deadnaming’ and ‘misgendering’ while asking followers the question, “What’s okay to say?” In the context of “homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia”.
Have @innocent drinks deleted this. Goodness. I wonder why? pic.twitter.com/g3Ddxr47XS
— Barry Wall (@HeadWarriorTWM) May 30, 2023
In its original thread, posted on Tuesday, it wrote: “On May 17th, it was IDAHOBIT. It’s the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. It’s all about helping people feel like they can be their true selves and is absolutely nothing about hobbits.
“So we turned gto the legends over at @Mermaids_Gender”.
The drinks company went on to say it was “always looking for ways to be more inclusive, so we asked Mermaids to teach us what’s okay to say”.
Innocent went on to talk about Mermaids, which was submerged in controversy over its sending of gender-confused children to the now shut Tavistock clinic.
However, in a statement posted on Tuesday, Innocent Drinks said: “We’ve deleted a twitter thread”.
“One of the things we care most about at innocent is people. That’s why we have affinity groups, which are safe spaces for people that work here to show experiences around protected characteristics like race, disability, or gender. And these groups help us understand what life’s like for eachother.”
It continued, “One of the ways we do that is by bringing in guest speakers, and those talks are open to whoever wants to know more. Over the years, we’ve had talks on things like autism and neurodiversity, racial equality, and most recently, gender diversity.
“Today we posted about what we learned from one of these talks, and in the past few hours, we’ve started to see loads of comments that weren’t in line with our values. We always want to make sure our social media channels are respectful and inclusive, which is why we’ve deleted the thread”.
A note from us. pic.twitter.com/ZIdxRRE7IW
— innocent drinks (@innocent) May 30, 2023
The controversy has continued to spark debate even after the deletion of the thread – with some vowing never to buy from the company again. Others took aim at the company for its perceived attack on those airing their views.
“Amazingly, innocent drinks draws the line at the responses, not the kids,” one user said.
Innocent drinks asking Mermaids “what’s ok to say”.
Mermaids, who assert men can be lesbians, young ppl who will turn out gay need medicalisation to make them “straight”, wrapped up in gender identity ideology
I won’t be buying from you again @innocent
I don’t like homophobia https://t.co/z4teYyqGe7
— Duncan (@DuncanHenry78) May 30, 2023
Innocent Drinks promoted the appalling charity Mermaids and received a lot of pushback from people that aren't on board with the whole child mutilation and medicalization industry. Amazingly, innocent drinks draws the line at the responses, not the kids. https://t.co/h0xkqNFh3n
— Stephen Knight 🎙️ (@GSpellchecker) May 30, 2023
The pressure keenly felt by Innocent comes amid high-profile boycotts of US companies over the issue of transgender ideology. Leading US retailer Target is confirmed to have lost a staggering $9 billion in value after it was forced to pull items in its Pride Collection launched at the start of May, which included LGBTQ+ themed childrenswear and items for infants.
Bud Light has also emerged as a casualty in a culture war which appears to be heating up – with the company’s sales down by almost 30 percent compared with 2022, because of opposition to its partnership with trans influencer, Dylan Mulvaney.