Retailer Pulls Controversial T-shirt From Shelves After Inciting Social Media Firestorm
By Chelsea Karnash
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A popular retailer of children's clothes has pulled a controversial t-shirt from its shelves after it sparked a social media firestorm.
The girl's shirt, sold at the Children's Place, reads, "My Best Subjects" at the top and has boxes checked off next to the words "Shopping," "Music" and "Dancing." A box next to the word "Math" is left blank, with the phrase "Well, nobody's perfect" underneath.
The company was forced to pull the shirt after numerous users posted angry comments on their social media pages, including Facebook.
"Shame on you for producing a t-shirt for GIRLS that 'math' is not checked off from a list of 'likes,' " one user posted. "This is not cute and I consider this act of demeaning females. The 'marketing genius' that created this design should be fired along with the other dopes that went along with it."
"This is not ok," another user commented, with a photo of the t-shirt attached.
Still, the company did have its supporters.
"Everyone seriously needs to calm down about this subjects tshirt," one male user wrote. "Does the tshirt say that girls are bad at math? No it doesnt."
Regardless, the company posted a mea culpa on Monday that read, "We take feedback from our customers very seriously. It has come to our attention that some of you view our Best Subjects T shirt as insensitive towards girls and women. This was not our intent. There are countless women in all walks of life who excel in math, including our very own CEO. We have pulled this product from our stores and we want to express our apologies to anyone we may have offended."
