Over 13,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org after X-Site, an Alberta-based energy company, produced graphic stickers depicting 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg being engaged in non-consensual sexual acts.
The petition – started by Fionnuala Braun of Saskatoon, Sask. – calls for the X-Site executives responsible to step down, and for the company to issue a public apology.
“Together, we can show that this disgusting and deplorable behaviour will not go unnoticed in Canada. We call on all executives involved in the making or distribution of the image to step down, and issue a public apology for their actions,” says Braun.
X-Site recently issued a statement, stating that “We recognize that it is not enough to apologize for the image associated with our company logo on the decals that circulated last week. This does not reflect the values of this company or our employees, and we deeply regret the pain we may have caused.”
X-Site added that they are “taking action to condemn this image and its publication and are committed to recovering and destroying the decals we distributed.”
But Braun insists this is not enough, and has also expressed disappointment with the RCMP’s response.
“While the RCMP has said they don’t consider this to be child pornography, I think most people can agree that distributing images of sexual assault, or sexual images of anyone under the age of 18 is wrong on many levels. This image is both of those abhorrent things.”
