AMANDA DEDIE
Special to The Leader
Students frequent the Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga for a variety of products, such as clothes, shoes, or just to spend a few hours of fun with friends and family. Amongst various stores lay Urban Outfitters, a store that features a variety of products. It has men and women’s clothing, shoes, accessories, beauty products, music and even furnishings for one’s apartment. It sounds like a dream: a store that has practically everything.
But, in Urban Outfitters’ case, the term “everything” also includes a whole lot of controversy.
In the past week, Urban Outfitters released a sweatshirt as part of their “sun-faded vintage collection,” which has faded red discoloration and worn holes in the upper left of the shirt. It sounds okay, until actually laying eyes on it. The sweatshirt features the seal of Kent State University, a college located in Kent, OH. Anyone who was alive in 1970, or has brushed up on their history, knows why this sweatshirt is scandalous.
On May 4, 1970, a peaceful gathering occurred on the Kent State University campus, in protest of former President Nixon’s Cambodian campaign. During the fourth day of this protest, most of the crowd had dispersed, but many still remained. Shortly thereafter, almost half of the guardsmen opened fire on the remaining crowd. Sixty-seven rounds of ammunition were fired in approximately 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine.
With this knowledge in mind, a closer inspection of the sweatshirt reveals a distasteful similarity to a blood-stained sweatshirt, with bulletholes in the upper-left shoulder.
The official apology statement released from Urban Outfitters states, “we deeply regret that this item was perceived negatively.” It points out that the public is outraged, and alludes to the mindset of, “If we didn’t intentionally set out to upset you, then you shouldn’t be.” Their apology statement states, “we deeply regret that this item was perceived negatively,” rather than, “We’re sorry to those we’ve offended and for our hurtful actions.”
The apology was seen as insincere, to which Urban Outfitters then released an exclusive follow-up statement to Time, saying “To further clarify … this is a vintage item and there is only one … Urban Outfitters purchased the one-of-a-kind sweatshirt from the Rose Bowl Flea Market as part of our sun-faded vintage collection … The discoloration that has been mistaken for blood is from natural fading and sun exposure,” to which Time called “a bit too late,” and “questionable.”
With every action comes a reaction, and Urban Outfitters’ latest in a long line of controversial issues has understandably brought out negative emotions in a great deal of people.
“I was just — I’m not sure there are words to describe [how I felt]. I was horrified. I was appalled. I was disgusted. I could not believe what I was looking at,” said Ann Carden, associate professor of communication. “If [Urban Outfitters] was really sorry, with these apologies that they have been sharing, they’d stop doing it. Apparently, they’ve issued apologies before. Well, part of an apology is stopping the offending behavior, and they’re not.”
David Herman, vice president of Student Affairs, gave his views on the situation as well. “My initial reaction [ … ] was that it was disgusting; it was inappropriate. It showed a great deal of ignorance about what really happened on May 4th, 1970,” Herman said. He continued on, explaining how all of this coincides with what he personally experienced on that day.
When asked what he thought Urban Outfitters could learn from this situation, Herman said people just need to be more mindful about situations.
“I think in our society, they use a lot of sarcasm and maybe it’s frustration — maybe it’s just the profit motive. But I think they have to watch what they do, what they say,” he said. “Some of it is pretty hurtful. I just think people need to be more mindful of how they communicate, and what kind of message they’re really conveying, and that negative humor, and sarcasm, and what I call ‘dark humor,’ can easily hurt someone … and to try to be more positive and bring our society together, rather than divide everybody in order to sell a few shirts.”
Lastly, President Virginia Horvath gave her thoughts on the subject. Though she was only in seventh grade at the time of the shooting, she still remembers the effect of the shooting on her, the people she knew and — later on as a student and faculty member there — the students, faculty and staff of Kent State.
“You still have people who knew guardsmen. You have people who knew victims. You have people who had been there — it’s still a wound for people,” Horvath said. “I’m really proud of what I see [people from Kent State] doing. I see offices at Kent State, people at Kent State, putting on their golden and blue shirts and things like that, and standing with their arms around each other, saying, ‘We are Kent State.’”
This isn’t Urban Outfitters’ first problematic experience, and their questionable actions are bound to continue. The boycotts have begun, and this instance of crossing the line a little too far may cause the boycotts to last a little longer. Before heading to the Walden Galleria for anything that could be obtained from Urban Outfitters, you may want to think, “Could I get this from somewhere else?”