Another clothing controversy for Urban Outfitter's as they pull a vintage Kent State shirt from their website after people not surprisingly made the connection between what looked like a blood stained shirt and the shootings at Kent State in 1970. And while we can only assume that no one working in the design team at Urban Outfitters was alive in 1970, surely a quick Google search might have given them some hints. It is the second item that comes up (after Kent State) when you do a search, so it's not like it's a hidden thing.
And even if they wanted to somehow honor the students killed or maybe even spark some on-campus activists by helping people remember a time when Americans actually protested on college campuses against things it thought the government was doing wrong, this missed on every level.
It can be hard for brands to stay out of the minefields when so many things seem sensitive today, but selling what looks like a blood-soaked sweatshirt from a campus involved in a shooting like the one they had, seems pretty bone-headed at best. At least they had the good sense to pull it off their site.
Although I'm sadly sure that there are people who right now are saying "no press is bad press." But just as sadly, it surely won't stop them from finding the next stupid clothing item to feature on their site.