Old Navy Apologizes, Pulls Toddler Shirt That Suggests Kids Shouldn’t Aspire To A Career In The Arts

Part of the wonder of being a little kid is the idea that you can grow up to be whatever you want to be — whether that’s President of the United States, a teacher, a veterinarian, an astrophysicist or a concert pianist. So when Old Navy sold a line of toddler T-shirts that featured the phrase, “Young Aspiring Artist,” with the “Artist” part crossed out and replaced with other careers like “Astronaut” and “President,” many online expressed anger at what they saw as the company valuing other careers over those in the arts.

After folks started calling out Old Navy earlier this week for denigrating the arts and trying to steer young ones away from spreading their creative wings and flying, the brand apologized and says it will stop selling the shirt.

Have you seen this? @OldNavy is clearly ignorant to the value of young #artists in our world. You lost me #oldnavy http://pic.twitter.com/UurtL1CkYP

— Dance Judge (@DanceJudgeProbs) December 29, 2015

So Old Navy's new t-shirts fail to recognize that artists designed these shirts. http://pic.twitter.com/qX0lcz4Ko7

— LeSean Thomas (@LeSeanThomas) December 30, 2015

WHAT was @OldNavy thinking? Don't they remember they hired actors, AKA "Artists", in their stupid ads? https://t.co/xpNhs00v7j

— Carmelle P. (@carmelle25) December 31, 2015

In a statement, an Old Navy spokeswoman said the retailer 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,” she said, via Forbes. “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.”

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist