Over the course of Urban Outfitters' history, several things may have made your eyes bulge out of your head in disbelief. No, I'm not referring to that leather skirt that finally went down 50 percent after half a year of eyeballing it on the display -- I mean the scandals that have left the store's PR team scrambling for damage control. Let's revisit a few of Urban Outfitters' shameless blunders that are sure to leave you thinking, "Did that really happen?"
5. “Vintage” Kent State University Sweatshirt.
In Sept. 2014, Urban Outfitters got the hare-brained idea to sell one Kent State sweatshirt marred with holes and what is seemingly blood splatter sprayed across it. Yikes! If you’re not familiar, in 1970 on the campus of Kent State University, four unarmed students were killed and nine others were wounded in during a Vietnam protest. See where that sale wouldn’t be the brightest idea? Of course after receiving an abundance of backlash, UO released a statement saying that the killing had nothing to do with the sale, and that the red stains and holes were from washing and discoloration. Right -- didn’t stop you from selling the sweatshirt, did it?
Can you believe this is only number five? This means we have bigger fish to fry.
4. Obama/Black Color Selection
Are you kidding me? So, in 2010 Urban Outfitters decided to sell a t-shirt that you could buy in “Obama/Black”. Pardon me if I don’t quite think this is how you pay homage. Using the president’s name as a description offended some people and of course UO released yet another statement. They wrote: “The burnout pattern on this shirt is comprised of two colors – one is an internally developed color we called “Obama Blue” and the other is “Black.” Unfortunately our website database truncated this combination to read “Obama/Black.” We should have caught the error, and apologize for offending anyone.” I guess these accidents can afford to happen.
3. Pill Bottle Shaped Alcohol Apparatuses.
In 2013 Urban Outfitters vended shot glasses, flasks, and beer can coolers that resemble prescription pill bottles. This grand idea seemingly makes light of an ongoing epidemic—the abuse of prescription drugs among teenagers and young adults. One Republican, Hal Rogers, was very vocal in his distaste toward these products and how they may glamorize a detrimental issue. “I fear the sale of these items could have the unfortunate consequence of leading more teens to seek out prescription meds, or even worse, an increase in prescription drug-related overdoses,” Rogers said in a letter to the company.
2. “Eat Less” Clothing
One simply cannot decide if Urban Outfitters is being concerned and encouraging preventative methods to obesity, or inspiring the likes of an eating disorder with their 'Eat Less' shirts, but we’re going to guess the latter. In June 2010, UO began selling these repulsive shirts with the description being, "Eat less or more or however much you'd like in this seriously soft knit tee cut long and topped with a V-neck."
The blogs and online activists clamored together to bring this product down and were successful. Urban Outfitters removed the shirts from online sale and no longer carries them in-store.1. “Ghettoply”
The concept is like Monopoly, only more racist. In 2003, Urban Outfitters completely enraged the African American community when they began selling the monopoly board game dupe that features properties such as a peep show and pawn shop. If that’s not enough to spark your annoyance, the properties you can build are crack houses and project homes instead of hotels and homes. And on your way to jail, you may run into a carjacking or a police shakedown as opposed to the original taxation squares. Needless to say, the boycott began and UO pulled the product from its shelves.
It’s really mind-blowing to think that selling these items didn’t scream "red-flag" to any to member of the stellar PR team backing Urban Outfitters. Let’s all cross our fingers in hopes that UO can stay out of any on-going trouble from here on out.
