Urban Outfitters' Obama/Black Shirt Pulled

Scroll down for UPDATE.

Funky fashion purveyor Urban Outfitters got a little creative with color nomenclature on its website, marketing the short-sleeved, buttoned BDG Burnout Henley in White/Charcoal...and Obama/Black.

As of Monday morning, the shirt was no longer available. The chain has sold Obama-themed t-shirts in the past, but reportedly hasn't used "Obama" as a color description.

Update (2/5): A rep for Urban Outfitters had this to say:

Many customers have brought to our attention one of the color names listed for our BDG Burnout Henley, and rightfully so. We screwed up, and are sincerely sorry. 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.

Comments

[BebeLush]

10:59 AM on 02/02/2010

What a bunch idiots. And their clothes suck too.

[Freedom Rush]

04:10 PM on 02/01/2010

Can I boycott a company I've never purchased from? Well, I certainly don't intend to buy from them (or their other companies) in the future.

[CherrySpring]

01:02 PM on 02/01/2010

Urban Outfitters is just Abercrombie and Fitch for hipsters living in homogeneous urban neighborhoods and wanna-be hipsters living in the suburbs.

[3015551212]

01:39 PM on 02/01/2010

HAHAHA!

[Doc0976]

11:26 AM on 02/01/2010

Interestingly enough, the corporation did whatever it could to capitalize on the ever-popular image of Obama to sell cheap tee shirts. Typical hipster hypocrisy. Hypster is more like it.

[mama4justice]

11:18 AM on 02/01/2010

If you were on the fence about boycotting Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie and Terrain stores (and you still consider the unjust treatment of low wage workers, LGBTI community & people of color is wrong) then you might want to read this libertarian's commentary - basically laughing at the stupid liberal...

"I almost decided to boycott Urban Outfitters!" - Libertarian Brainstorm's MySpace Blog
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=373503629&blogId=437955679

[Robert Pickett Burnside]

11:01 AM on 02/01/2010

hipster trash

[Mitzy]

10:55 AM on 02/01/2010

Widespread Republican hate and racism bubbles just beneath the surface, surging, occasionally breaking through the thin crust of political correctness, just waiting to explode in volcanic, orgiastic mayhem, treason, and wanton violence.

[faithnj]

05:23 AM on 02/02/2010

hear, hear.

[workinman]

10:50 AM on 02/01/2010

How about Cheney yellow for the Vietnam vet fatigues.

[mama4justice]

10:46 AM on 02/01/2010

OK this is the deal - Urban Outfitters is owned by a hardcore conservative GOP donor, Richard Hayne. Remember this is the same company that offered the "Voting is for Old People" T-shirt.

If you want to donate to the GOP, support a Corporatist (and by that I mean, F@scist) who is anti-gay/people of color, if you aren't interested in fair wages and supporting humane labor law, if you think multi-millionaires should pay the same or (less) in taxes than an average middle class family and if you buy market-tested pop infused clothing and knicknacks that can't survive two washings without shrinking up to the size of a toddler - then yes definitely shop at this guy's stores.

Frorm a 2006 Philly Weekly mag article:

"Yet Hayne himself is an ardent Republican. He is a financial supporter of arch conservative Sen. Rick Santorum, whose recent comments about homosexuals equated gay sex with incest and bestiality.

When PW asks Hayne about his financial support of Santorum, he initially denies it. And when presented with a computer printout of Santorum's campaign donors from the Center for Responsive Politics website--which cites a $4,650 contribution from Urban Outfitters--he responds: "I'll have to look into this. I don't think this is right." In fact, he and his wife have contributed $13,150 to Santorum and Santorum's Political Action Committee over the years."

[Doc0976]

11:23 AM on 02/01/2010

Thank you for posting this. I did some research myself and I've always wondered why UO was so ridiculously whitewashed when it came to marketing and advertising. Now I know that the corporation has some interesting roots and I will do what I can to spread the word and avoid the brand.

[DivineDNA]

12:18 PM on 02/01/2010

mama4justice, thanks for the info.

Doc0976, so will I.

[TaylorSiluwe]

01:34 PM on 02/01/2010

Yes, thanks for the info. I had no idea of UO leaning. Isn't there a site that lists companies we may or may not want to support - especially since we're moving into an age of even more unlimited corporate influence in politics?

[4realtina]

12:52 PM on 02/01/2010

Thank you for the information! I have spent thousands of dollars for my daughters and just placed an order two days ago! I'm canceling my order. Wow, I'm shocked and this is why you really need to know where your money is going!

[Oblique]

10:45 AM on 02/01/2010

The guy that started this company is a right winger. This is why I never shop at Urban Outfitters.

Hayne and his wife Margaret have contributed $13,150 to the campaign coffers of Paleolithic right-wing Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and his Political Action Committee over the years.

Hayne, who would prefer this fact not appear in this story, did not always tilt hard to the right. In fact, he and the retail concern he founded came of age in the heady, longhaired lefty crucible of the '60s. Back then he was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration that perpetrated it and the big business military-industrial complex that financed it.

[Doc0976]

11:24 AM on 02/01/2010

Fanned.

[BDAinVA]

10:40 AM on 02/01/2010

Who in this company actually thought this was a good idea? He should be fired for sheer stupidity.

[KUjHwk]

10:23 AM on 02/01/2010

Why do these people have to constantly resort to Neanderthal, high schoolish pranks to insult this man. So much energy wasted.... Get a frickn' life

[SweetBabu]

10:52 AM on 02/01/2010

Best post I've read in a long while. Imagine if they used their energies to do GOOD?