Photo: Creative Commons
The clothing store Forever 21 came out with a distasteful male logo t-shirt that had the words ‘Don’t say maybe if you want to say no.’ It was definitely a mistake on the store’s part to put the shirt in the store. The t-shirt is basically promoting victim-blaming.
Many people stormed to Twitter about the shirt and its negative impact. Different twitter accounts were outraged and many of the comments said they would refrain from shopping there again.
Did Forever 21 even look over the shirt before it hit the shelves? Even after all the commotion on Twitter, it took the store several days to take action of taking the shirt. I think using this shirt as a ‘humorous’ basic tee was completely inappropriate and they should be double checked when made to avoid future problems.
It recently pulled down the t-shirt from its website and said it “sincerely apologizes to anyone who was offended by the product.” The uprise on social media was a great impact on their decision and Forever 21 seems to care more about what their customers are saying than a shirt they could be selling.
Urban Outfitters has also had a similar controversy involving a 2014 faux-vintage T-shirt that appeared to reference the 1970 shooting at Kent State by featuring the school’s logo surrounded by red splatters that resemble blood stains.
Target also ran into some issues after the “‘I have OCD’, Obsessive Christmas Disorder” shirt was released. Target, however, did not pull the shirt off of the shelves. While some people are upset and think Target is mocking a mental disorder, others think of it as bringing awareness to this disorder by talking about it.
It looks like striking controversy in clothing stores is not that uncommon. Maybe they should just stick to no logos or ones that will not offend anyone.
Bottom line, rape slogans should not be humorous or be sold on t-shirts in stores to raise sales.
