Wow, Old Navy, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an artist!
The retailer made the strange choice to sell t-shirts for toddlers that read “Young Aspiring Artist” with “artist” crossed off and replaced by other professions like astronaut or president.
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But why bother writing and crossing out artist in the first place, when the company could have just written “young aspiring astronaut” or “young aspiring president” from the beginning?
It makes no sense!
Customers on social media have put the company on blast for what seems like an attempt to discourage very young children from pursuing art.
Have you seen this? @OldNavy is clearly ignorant to the value of young #artists in our world. You lost me #oldnavy pic.twitter.com/UurtL1CkYP
— Dance Judge (@DanceJudgeProbs) December 29, 2015
Thanks @OldNavy for disparaging my career and life #OldNavy #fail pic.twitter.com/AADvgP4NZs
— Lauren Rinaldi (@LRinaldiArt) December 30, 2015
I turned the #oldnavy shirt into a madlib! Now everyone can be who they want to be! #aspiringartist pic.twitter.com/D8SLNDkduo
— ashley taylor (@ashley24taylor) December 30, 2015
Just saw the #OldNavy shirts with the word “artist” crossed out. I wonder if they realize that without artists, they wouldn’t even exist. ├░┼╕╦£ΓÇÜ
— BYNON (@bynonofficial) December 30, 2015
Hi I was once a young aspiring artist and now I design for the next president. Shame on you #OldNavy https://t.co/2SZnx1P1CG
— Victor Ng (@victomato) December 30, 2015
One person even made a humorous “protest tee” with proceeds going to the Arts 4 LA organization.
It’s here! My #OldNavy protest tee is now up @teefury! Proceeds will be donated to @Art4LA. https://t.co/ZpoS8PzS0X pic.twitter.com/1s6rmOkuaZ
— Blair J. Campbell (@BlairJCampbell) December 31, 2015
A spokesperson for the retailer issued this response:
“At Old Navy we take our responsibility to our customers seriously. We would never intentionally offend anyone, and we are sorry if that has been the case. Our toddler tees come in a variety of designs including tees that feature ballerinas, unicorns, trucks and dinosaurs and include phrases like, “Free Spirit.” They are meant to appeal to a wide range of aspirations. With this particular tee, as a result of customer feedback, we have decided to discontinue the design and will work to remove the item from our stores.”
Good!
There’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with having interests to pursue art.
How about just encouraging kids to be whatever they want to be, hmm?
What do YOU think, Perezcious readers???
[Image via DanceJudgeProbs/Twitter]
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