Jaycar

Jaycar is an Australian based electronics retailer dealing in electronic components and related products for the electronics enthusiast. It was founded in 1981 when a former Dick Smith Electronics employee, Gary Johnston, purchased John Carr & Co. Pty Ltd.

Jaycar has over 90 stores and more than 200 authorised stockists and agents throughout Australia and New Zealand that carry products from Jaycar's Electus Distribution wholesale division.

Catalogue

Jaycar Electronics publishes an annual catalogue, covering a range of products aimed at the electronics enthusiast and professionals. Jaycar's catalogue is bundled with Silicon Chip magazine annually, and is also available for separate purchase. The catalogue originally contained a data section, but the information has since been relocated to the company's website, available for free download. The 2015 edition catalogue contains 7,060 products with 547 pages.

Controversy

In 2005, Jaycar received negative attention from its imported Taiwanese "Choke-A-Chicken" toy that squawked and slapped its wings when strangled around its neck. The RSPCA Queensland described the toy as "grossly irresponsible". As of 2013 the "Choke-A-Chicken" has been reintroduced to Jaycar shelves, where it is yet to receive the same kind of negative attention as previously.

In October 2012, Gary Johnston, Managing Director of Jaycar was interviewed on Sydney radio station 2GB in seeking to explain the behaviour of Canterbury-Bankstown NRL club players who had allegedly made degrading and threatening remarks to Channel Nine reporter, Jayne Azzopardi, though firm evidence of who the comments were directed at remains unclear. Johnston was quoted as saying "If a woman walks into some bars in Sydney, she will be ogled. She will be treated as an object and that's the way it is. She doesn't have to walk into those bars." This led to calls to boycott Jaycar stores It was felt that Gary Johnston's comments were seen as providing support and justification for sexist behaviour, and were considered a 'non-apology' by some media outlets. Boxer and model Lauren Eagle came to Johnston's defense, stating that "You walk into a bar, men look at you, they stare at you, that’s just the way it is and that’s the truth. What they didn’t record was he did apologise…the comments were definitely not appropriate, but the reality is, looking and ogling, definitely (happens)."

See also

• Altronics
• Radio Parts Group
• Dick Smith Electronics
• Jaycar Sunswift III
• Element-14 / Farnell
• RS Components

External links

• • Electus Distribution
• Jaycar New Zealand
• Jaycar USA/Canada
• Jaycar UK
• Wiltronics Research