Urban Outfitters Makes Blood-Stained Kent State Sweatshirt; Feigns Ignorance After Public Outrage
Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters makes trendy and
vintage-style clothing for teens and young adults, but its latest offering
doesn’t appear to be popular with any age group. Sunday night, the internet
noticed when a “vintage” Kent State University sweatshirt went on sale on the
company’s website for $129. It wasn’t the ridiculous price that sparked
attention but the appearance of blood splatter and stains on the light-colored
sweatshirt. 
Though many in Urban Outfitters’ customer base are too young to remember, in 1970, four unarmed students at Kent State were fatally shot by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war protest.
After an officer shot and killed Michael Brown, “police brutality” is a hot topic in the media, and it seems like Urban Outfitters jumped on the bandwagon, in a terrible way.
Of course, everyone but Urban Outfitters found the shirt offensive. Even liberal media like Mediate and Huffington Post called the shirt “a new low” for the controversial clothing company.
After offending nearly everybody, Urban Outfitters promptly
removed the shirt from its site and tweeted out an apology, claiming it was just
a misunderstanding:
However, the apology wasn’t well received. Twitter users called
the attempted excuse “unacceptable,” “lame,” “fake” and “irresponsible” among
other things. Many people scoffed at the company’s claim of the shirt’s colors
and stains as being “unintentional,” accusing the company of intentionally
causing offense.
Kent State also responded, saying, “We take great offense to a company using our pain for their publicity and profit. This item is beyond poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State community today.”
The company's bad taste is hardly surprising. It's managed to make shirts and novelty products making light of the Holocaust, Jews, Jesus, Catholic saints, depression and suicide, among other things.
— Kristine Marsh is Staff Writer for MRC Culture at the Media Research Center. Follow Kristine Marsh on Twitter.
