American Apparel: Fourth of July Fail.
In an attempt to commemorate America on it’s birthday in 2014 American Apparel posted an “artistic” image on its Tumblr tagged with #smoke and #clouds (see image above). However, this photo was quickly identified as a photo shopped image of the Challenger Space Shuttle exploding. This tragic incident happened in 1986. Just 73 seconds into flight the shuttle burst into flames disintegrating over the Atlantic Ocean and killing all seven astronauts inside. Many watched the event unfold in front of their very eyes. Space shuttle missions were put on hold for three years after and this memory still haunts those who witnessed it.
As the influx of disgusted commentary came flooding in, American Apparel very quickly took the image down but by then the damage was already done. The company apologized for the incident saying that:
“The image was re-blogged in error by one of our international social media employees who was born after the tragedy and was unaware of the event. We sincerely regret the insensitivity of that selection and the post has been deleted.”
It would take a very quick Google search to discover what this image depicted. It is also bewildering how this image could be confused for fireworks? This content shows a complete lack of knowledge for America’s history, an unfamiliarity with the company’s audience and carelessness. This mistake is especially shocking considering American Apparel literally has the country in it’s name and boasts of making all of its clothing in the USA. It is not sufficient enough to blame this incident on an “international employee”. The company clearly does not have a social media manager overseeing operations, which is shocking considering this is the primary platform for reaching its audience.
This image surfaced a few weeks after the sexual harassment allegations made about the company’s founder and CEO Dov Charney. He was known to push the boundaries with scantily clad young models in sexually suggestive poses. The company has always caused a lot of controversy with its ads and this incident only tarnished their reputation further. If there is anything to takeaway from this incident is that you must do your homework. American Apparel was a huge and widely popular organization with a mass outreach. Perhaps these are a few of the many reasons the company has recently chosen to close all 111 of its American stores and shut down. Authority within the organization was clearly not delegated properly, if at all, and this certainly played a part in the death of American Apparel.
