Marketing mistake: JC Penny pulls t-shirt for pretty (but dumb) girls

Ooops.

According to Deborah Belgum, senior editor for California Apparel News, and Ellie Krupnik at The Huffington Post, JC Penney just made a big marketing mistake with a little t-shirt.

The garment in question, which was taken off the retailer’s website 8/31/2011, was a long-sleeve white tee. This message was woven in between heart and flower graphics on the front:

“I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it for me.”

JC Penney got a lot of bad publicity via social media tools like Facebook and twitter for trying to sell the shirt. Not surprising.

The negative chatter resulted in J.C. Penney pulling the product and inserting this  text:

“We are sorry, but this product is not available at this time.”

Since pulling the t-shirt from its online catalog, the company gave this statement to the Village Voice:

“J.C. Penney is committed to being America’s destination for great style and great value for the whole family. 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.”

God for JC Penney for acting quickly to address this issue and taking responsibility.

Here’s an idea: Next time, JC Penney could put that second statement online so people see it immediately when they try to search for the shirt. And since everyone who is interested in this story is going to search online for more details, the company could truly “own” it by creating a small box on its homepage and link to content listing all of the facts, explaining their side of the story and including corporate PR contact info. Help people easily find the issue and what you’re doing about it – as told by you.

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