U
rban Outfitters — an overpriced retailer that appeals only to the thickheaded hipsters of America — made an awful blunder earlier this week. The store advertised a Kent State University sweatshirt covered in what appeared to be bloodstains. The sweatshirt would be bizarre unto itself, if it didn’t recall the horrific events that took place on Kent State’s campus in 1970.
For those unaware of this infamous moment in 20th century American history, the National Guard opened fire on Kent State’s campus during a protest against the Vietnam War, killing four students. The tragedy sent shockwaves across the nation and even inspired the haunting song “Ohio” by the band Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Urban Outfitters was either oblivious to the obvious reference or, in great hipster fashion, was trying to be ironic when it produced the heinous shirt. Realizing its mistake — or attempting to avoid an even larger public relations disaster — Urban Outfitters apologized for the sweatshirt, making a dubious claim about why the shirt was stained red.
The company might claim it was part of a collection of shirts that were intentionally stained and then sun-faded, but if that’s the case, why choose red, and why — out of all the colleges and universities in the U.S. — did they choose a school that dealt with such a violent tragedy?
Frankly, Kent State, the victims’ families and Americans of all stripes deserve more than a short apology from Urban Outfitters. What we deserve is common decency.
Unfortunately, the atmosphere of learning, culture and growth on college campuses is occasionally disrupted by violence, death and destruction that devastate us all. From Kent State to Virginia Tech to the recent shootings at University of California, Santa Barbara, to UF’s own bout of horror in 1990, we don’t need some despicable reminder of tragedy all in the name of a retailer’s thickheaded attempt at irony.
No apology or public relations spin can change the fact that someone at Urban Outfitters thought it was a good idea to stain a sweatshirt red and slap the logo of a university touched by violence. In fact, even if Urban Outfitters put the name of a fake university on the front of the shirt, what were they trying to prove? Furthermore, who in their right mind would buy a shirt covered in what appears to be blood?
If you find nothing wrong with Urban Outfitters’ action — and there will be some of you who feel this is blown out of proportion — is this any different than producing a Columbine High School sweatshirt stained red? Even though the Kent State shootings occurred nearly 45 years ago, the amount of time should not diminish the horror experienced on that campus and just how heated the debate was over the Vietnam War.
Trivializing the events of May 4, 1970, trivializes every school shooting since that day and every tragedy that shook our great nation to the bone. Kent State invited the leaders of Urban Outfitters to visit the campus visitor center to learn more about the shootings, and hopefully, the company graciously accepts that invitation.
Rather than ignore or trivialize history, we need to learn, understand and respect the events that shaped our country — for good or bad.
If Urban Outfitters cannot learn from their mistake, what’s stopping them — or another company — from producing equally crass merchandise about another school shooting — or even 9/11 — in the years to come?
Let’s stop pretending that the sweatshirt was a disturbing coincidence, and instead, realize that this was a company with no scruples and little to no respect for the tragedy it so pathetically trivialized.
Joel Mendelson is a UF graduate student studying political campaigning. His columns appear on Wednesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 9/17/2014 under the headline "Urban Outfitters’ Kent State sweatshirt is heinous and disrespectful"]
