Will I still be buying from Primark?

Last week Primark was in the news after the retailer “got it wrong” with the sale of padded bikinis for seven year olds.   The social media response was predictably damning, with comment from outraged mothers typified by a friend’s Facebook status: “just been reading in the sun that Primark are selling halterneck padded bikini tops for 7 year old girls – that is absolutely disgusting!”.

There followed a host of comments from fellow mothers expressing their outrage, which echoed nationwide (although not everyone agreed). David Cameron swiftly dubbed the item “completely disgraceful” and urged companies to “take some responsibility” for the sexualising of children.

You can see the chatter peaked on the day the story broke, with a tenfold increase in brand mentions in social media.

But do the hoards of teenagers and young girls who frequent Primark every Saturday really care about “Primark’s responsibility to children”? Will the mothers who expressed such outrage last week actually stop buying from Primark?

Sales weren’t much affected the last time the retailer made the wrong kind of headlines. But others have found that even the most resilient bottom-lines can suddenly be hit by reputation issues to which they had previously seemed impervious – in the words of seasoned political PR Mike Love, they can run short of credit at the “trust bank”.

Right now, the most important question for some consumers might be, where else can you buy a whole outfit for under £20, shoes included? But without attending to the trust bank, Primark can be sure it won’t be the most important question forever.