Offensive or Funny

July 22, 2005 4:09 PM

"New Mexico, Cleaner than Regular Mexico" This isn't the first time that Urban Outfitters has crossed the line of good taste. Two years ago, [Urban Outfitters] stopped selling a game called "Ghettopoly" after protests by black civil rights leaders. Last year, it halted sales of a T-shirt that read "Everyone Loves A Jewish Girl," surrounded by dollar signs, after the Anti-Defamation League objected. As could be expected, not everone finds this stuff funny.
posted by billysumday (46 comments total)

I had this inclination to go buy the shirt after reading this. After all, all press is good press.
posted by angry modem at 4:17 PM on July 22, 2005

It occurs to me that if drinking of the local tap water can cause violent explosive diarrhea, then perhaps the cleanliness of a country can be rightly called into question. Plus, the shirt is hilarious if you find that sort of thing amusing, and "good taste" is completely subjective. Maybe, just maybe, the people who do find this stuff funny can buy it, and the people who don't can, I dunno, not buy it? Why shouldn't people who would want such a shirt be allowed to purchase one?
posted by kafziel at 4:18 PM on July 22, 2005

Yeah, me too. Of course, I'm a white canadian, so automatically by wearing it I'd be called racist.

I wonder, if they did the same for New York and New Hampshire, would Yorkies and Hampsters protest?
posted by Kickstart70 at 4:19 PM on July 22, 2005

Hey, I've seen that shirt before. It's made by Busted Tees.
posted by 4easypayments at 4:28 PM on July 22, 2005

As a native New Mexican, I disavow any association with this t-shirt. An irony, however, is that a whole bunch of Americans come to New Mexico, see all the brown people, and are just as bigoted as they are with regard to Mexico.

Within the state, there's also a lot of bigotry by the predominantly anglo portions against the predominantly Hispanic portions. Española, a moderately sized, very predominantly Hispanic town, has long been the butt of bigoted jokes. I've been through Española quite a bit, but it was only this last week that I and my family have become intimately aquainted with the town as my brother-in-law was taken there to the hospital after he fell off a mountain during our family vacation. We've all become very charmed by the town. And the small hospital there was excellent in their care in every way. Really, really nice people.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 4:28 PM on July 22, 2005

Y'know, when hipsters in their early twenties ironically don Motley Crue t-shirts, it mocks my heritage, but I don't feel compelled to petition anyone to put a stop to it.

By which I guess I mean that if you feel your heritage is threatened by anything on sale at Urban Outfitters, that's some mighty thin cultural skin you've got there.

Sidebar: When, in a few years, hipsters take to coveting fake-vintage t-shirts like these, will that be the pop-cultural white dwarf that finally leads to full blown social implosion?
posted by gompa at 4:30 PM on July 22, 2005

When did the ADL branch out to being against general defamation rather than just the Jewish kind?
posted by smackfu at 4:31 PM on July 22, 2005

> When did the ADL branch out to being against general defamation rather
> than just the Jewish kind?

Mission creep.
posted by jfuller at 4:37 PM on July 22, 2005

When, in a few years, hipsters take to coveting fake-vintage t-shirts like these, will that be the pop-cultural white dwarf that finally leads to full blown social implosion?

The story starts here.
posted by drezdn at 4:39 PM on July 22, 2005

Well, as long as they don't show any nudity or have cheat codes to expose smooth Ken&Barbie genitalia then I really don't have a problem with it.

It may be in poor taste but so is telling someone they've got bad breath, doesn't make it any less true.
posted by fenriq at 4:44 PM on July 22, 2005

Busted Tees has been selling this shirt for what, a year now? Two years? Whenever that dumbass state-name t-shirt trend started... There are some offensive shirts out there, sure, and you can argue ad nauseam for or against selling them in good taste ... but this shirt is where the ADL decides to draw the line? Really? Bad call.
posted by Sinner at 4:57 PM on July 22, 2005

I guess I shouldn't forward them this link then?
posted by numlok at 5:06 PM on July 22, 2005

numlok: Water out the nose. Thanks.
posted by billysumday at 5:09 PM on July 22, 2005

Hmm, yeah this is from busted-tees. Some pretty funny stuff over there. I particularly liked This one:


Tshirt Hell used to have a shirt that read "Niger Lover".
posted by delmoi at 5:12 PM on July 22, 2005

TShirt Hell used to have a shirt saying "I Fucked Kelly Osbourne". That didn't seem to upset too many people.

The native american one is pretty harsh.
posted by fenriq at 5:21 PM on July 22, 2005

Culturally, I think public racism against a group is only "allowed" by members of that group. To wit: Uppity Negress
posted by sandking at 5:25 PM on July 22, 2005

Yes, that native american one would get your ass kicked so probably not good for the emo kids.
posted by smackfu at 5:27 PM on July 22, 2005

This company and their wares disgust me. We have one of their stores in Berkeley and it is filled with supposedly-hip and completely useless shit.

It's like a tour of some marketing numbnuts' brain: "ooh! hey! i know what the kids will dig! TRUCKER HATS!!"
posted by scarabic at 5:41 PM on July 22, 2005

perhaps mexico would be less offended if they made up a nice memin pinguin shirt.
posted by Hat Maui at 5:43 PM on July 22, 2005

billysumday: Yay, one more nose-stencil for my laptop!

BTW: I just noticed they culled a "classic" from their page... (un)fortunately I found an image of it elsewhere (someone converted the original graphic into an icon).

I wonder if they caught too much grief over it (although, given the nature of the other designs, I can't imagine what level would constitute "too much").
posted by numlok at 5:46 PM on July 22, 2005

You sound mad about your lack of hip, scarabic.
posted by blacklite at 6:01 PM on July 22, 2005

I think its so ironic (in a totally hip way) that the Chairman and President of Urban Outfitters is a stalwart supporter to Rick Santorum's campaigns and PAC.
posted by Good Brain at 6:07 PM on July 22, 2005

Well, I do, less than fondly, remember, during my days in San Diego, all of the days I couldn't go the the beach for power swimming as the Tijuana sewer system had failed once again, venting incredible amounts of untreated sewage into the ocean...
posted by Samizdata at 6:14 PM on July 22, 2005

I'd wear a lot of these 'offensive' t-shirts, but there's no frickin' way I'm going to pay $20US plus shipping to Canada for a t-shirt. That's damned ridiculous.
posted by Kickstart70 at 6:36 PM on July 22, 2005

Remember the last outrage about the t-shirts that featured the slogan "West Virginia... it's all relative" (or something like that)?
posted by clevershark at 6:42 PM on July 22, 2005

And when the weak complained about "NJ: Only the Strong Survive"?
posted by smackfu at 7:18 PM on July 22, 2005

ever feel like killing your boss?
posted by Max Power at 7:23 PM on July 22, 2005

I think I will go and give them some money now.


"Hey, stop selling that product! It hurts my feelings!"
posted by mrblondemang at 7:25 PM on July 22, 2005

sniff sniff. Won't someone think of the children? Oh the humanity....
posted by a3matrix at 7:30 PM on July 22, 2005

Despite the company recording record earning for the last four quarters, I, along with +/-100 others, was recently laid off from Urban Outfitters, Inc.

I say fuck 'em. There's a terrible racist undertone that runs throughout the whole organization, and any bad press is good press IMHO.
posted by item at 7:32 PM on July 22, 2005

May the horse be with you.
posted by swift at 7:54 PM on July 22, 2005

UO may be a racist, bigoted organization. But taking the T-Shirt slogan at face value (IE: you just saw it on the subway with out knowing where it came from) how is it racist and why the outrage? I can't think of any metric that would have Mexico placing higher than New Mexico on a cleanliness scale. Beside the infamous water quality problems, you've got people living at land fills and the air pollution in Mexico city is known for being some of the worst in the world (it's been getting better since 1991 but still much worse than any where in NM)
posted by Mitheral at 8:25 PM on July 22, 2005

I remember some important phone call transaction, maybe a 911 call, where the responder couldn't be convinced that there was a NEW Mexico, and thought the call was some sort of prank.

(my Google-Fu is broken ATM.)
posted by Balisong at 8:51 PM on July 22, 2005

Heh. Thanks, drezdn.
posted by Tlogmer at 10:26 PM on July 22, 2005

Balisong, are you thinking about the Olympic vollyball tickets story?
posted by mexican at 11:59 PM on July 22, 2005

Wait a minute -- there's a NEW Mexico? Why wasn't I informed?
posted by davidmsc at 1:08 AM on July 23, 2005

Yeah, that was it!
posted by Balisong at 8:04 AM on July 23, 2005

davidmsc: Finally! 36 comments 'til the money shot....
posted by Floydd at 8:46 AM on July 23, 2005

Within the state, there's also a lot of bigotry by the predominantly anglo ...


Is it as bigoted as refering to all white-skinned people as "anglo"? We're not all Anglo-Saxon.
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:00 AM on July 23, 2005

I hate that anglo thing too. But didn't you get the memo, minorities are allowed to be culturally insensitive? Its only whitey that gets called out on it.
posted by CCK at 10:48 AM on July 23, 2005

I can't think of any metric that would have Mexico placing higher than New Mexico on a cleanliness scale.

Maybe true but isn't that like comparing New York City and Spokane, Washington?
posted by Staggering Jack at 10:50 AM on July 23, 2005

kafziel - "It occurs to me that if drinking of the local tap water can cause violent explosive diarrhea, then perhaps the cleanliness of a country can be rightly called into question. Plus, the shirt is hilarious if you find that sort of thing amusing, and "good taste" is completely subjective."

I live in Mexico. The water is safe to drink where I live, and the city is cleaner than any US, Canadian, or European city that I have visited or lived in. Where I live in La Paz there is virtually no crime, no unemployment, etc... It's a very nice place to live. This shirt is no more "hilarious" or "accurate" than any racist stereotype.

Miteral -"I can't think of any metric that would have Mexico placing higher than New Mexico on a cleanliness scale."

Judging Mexico by its poorest or most overpopulated regions is like judging blacks by only those in prison, or Americans only by Bush. It's simply ignorant and wrong.
posted by glider at 11:43 AM on July 23, 2005

No different than making fat jokes about your girlfriend -- to your girlfriend.

Humour isn't intrinsically bad, but can be used to cover up a lot of horrendous inner malice. And when the two match, even if there's only humour intended, you can't expect people to cleanly separate the two.
posted by dreamsign at 12:41 PM on July 23, 2005

And then there was this dumbass thing.

I dunno. It really seems like someone at Urban Outfitters has an agenda (perpetuation of right-wing regimes) that is well-served by (1) Alienating young people from the political process; (2) Reinforcing young people's stereotypes about ethnic minorities; and (3) Driving wedges between communities (the young, ethic minorities, etc.) with common interestests (affordable health care, economic justice, etc.) who ought to uniting, organizing, and going forth to kick ass, instead of trading poisonous, t-shirt-born bon mots.

Whether or not this tactic is effective, it's definitely icky.

(In posting this, I have used up my parenthetical allowance for the next several years.)
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:50 PM on July 23, 2005 [1 favorite]

Mexico is dirty?

THAT IS AN OFFENSIVE LIE!
posted by mosch at 2:38 PM on July 23, 2005

If they're going to be offensive, they could at least try to be funny. This sounds like it was thought up by a 20-year-old arrogant fratboy on his second keg of light beer.
posted by watsondog at 6:18 PM on July 23, 2005