JC Penney’s Bad Day All Started With This T-Shirt.
Somewhere in the world of J.C. Penney, a buyer is having a really lousy day… And they should be. Their decision to offer shirts for girls that read: “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me” wasn’t received so well by the American public. Was it offensive? Not exactly… maybe a little. Stupid? Ohhhhh Yeah.
The silly attempt at humor extended beyond the shirt.  The online catalog description read: Who has time for homework when there’s a new Justin Bieber album out? She’ll love this tee that’s just as cute and sassy as she is.
The shirt was an online-only item, and I can’t imagine anyone would want to buy the thing, but no worries – internet users cried out at the ridiculousness of the shirt’s copy, ran to the J.C. Penney facebook page to rant, and presto! The store had a PR crisis on it’s hands as media started a callin’.
Kate Coultas of Corporate Communications tells the Village Voice: “We are not happy about the shirt! We’re looking into it right now, to find out how it happened. It was only online, not available in stores, and we have removed it from the site.”
JCP didn’t stop there… they released a statement, that includes: We agree that the “Too pretty” t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. Our merchandise is intended to appeal to a broad customer base, not to offend them. We would like to apologize to our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect.”
That brings us back to a handful of people who are having a rather sad lunch break today as they sit and think about where it all went wrong. There, there, JCP buyers, someone else will offend the people of this great country soon and your newspaper headline will be tomorrow’s birdcage lining before long!
See what happens when you mix Britney and teaching.