{"id":1648,"date":"2012-09-06T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alcoholmonitoring.com\/blog\/?p=1648"},"modified":"2021-08-26T12:07:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T18:07:22","slug":"urban-outfitters-stirs-the-pot-with-pro-booze-t-shirts-for-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/urban-outfitters-stirs-the-pot-with-pro-booze-t-shirts-for-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Outfitters Stirs the Pot With Pro-Booze T-Shirts for Teens"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever shopped with a teenage girl at the mall\u2014a task often resigned to moms but bless the dads who have done it\u2014you know it can be a l-o-n-g process. This fall, if you\u2019re like outraged parents<\/a> across the U.S., you might want to consider making that outing just a tad bit easier by skipping one of the stores: Urban Outfitters.<\/p>\n

The clothing chain has unveiled a line of girl\u2019s t-shirts from Truly Madly Deeply that glorify drinking. To make matters worse, the shirts\u2014with slogans such as \u201cI Drink You\u2019re Cute<\/a>,\u201d \u201cUSA Drinking Team<\/a>,\u201d \u201cVote for Vodka<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cMisery Loves Alcoho<\/a>l\u201d\u2014are shown on the company website being modeled by what appear to be under-21 young women. (The company\u2019s largest demographic is 18-24 year olds; its second largest is under 18.)<\/p>\n

Alcohol use is associated with increased rates of sexual activity for teens as well as decreased condom use, according to a report<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, females can\u2019t process alcohol as well as males, even when controlling for size (see: 7 Alcohol Myths Debunked<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Bottom line: This popular chain is extolling the virtues of drinking. Not responsible drinking. But rather everything about drinking that makes every parent of a teenaged girl cringe.<\/p>\n

Urban Outfitters is no stranger to controversy. As recently as last March, the retailer was criticized for St. Patrick\u2019s Day merchandise<\/a> that promoted excessive drinking and disparaged the Irish. In fact, being provocative is part of the company\u2019s business model (see: 11 Urban Outfitters controversies<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Last week Century Council President and CEO Ralph Blackman blogged about the issue<\/a>, calling on parents to step up and use the opportunity to talk about alcohol, saying if teenagers choose to drink, it won\u2019t be because of a slogan on a t-shirt. \u201cIt\u2019s our job as parents to talk with our kids about alcohol. It\u2019s our job to teach them the value of making good decisions and leading a responsible life,\u201d he wrote. According to Blackman, Urban Outfitters isn\u2019t helping, comparing the t-shirts to an infamous line Abercrombie & Fitch launched several years ago, resulting in a great deal of negative publicity.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Brilliant marketing organization or irresponsible company? Should parents talk with their wallets, boycotting the retailer and the clothing line? Should Urban Outfitters pull the clothes from the fall line up? Or are critics giving the clothing line too much credit for influencing teenage attitudes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever shopped with a teenage girl at the mall\u2014a task often resigned to moms but bless the dads who have done it\u2014you know it can be a l-o-n-g process. This fall, if you\u2019re like outraged parents across the U.S., you might want to consider making that outing just a tad bit easier by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,15],"tags":[149,154,218,223,296,434,571,626,678,687,737,746],"class_list":["post-1648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol-addiction","category-underage-drinking-2","tag-cdc","tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","tag-drinking-alcohol-problems","tag-drinking-problems","tag-feature","tag-madd","tag-problem-drinking","tag-sobering-up","tag-teens-and-alcohol","tag-the-century-council","tag-underage-drinking","tag-urban-outfitters"],"yoast_head":"\nUrban Outfitters Stirs the Pot With Pro-Booze T-Shirts for Teens | Sobering Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you've ever shopped with a teenage 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