Yet Another Example Why Proofreading Is Of Critical Importance: Part III

In a humorous, but astonishing, case of pure coincidence, two high-profile retailers, Old Navy and JCPenney, both committed major faux pas this week with misguided T-shirt offerings...and just in time for back-to-school shopping, the volume of spending for which is predicted to be down this year.

Exhibit A:  Old Navy. As reported in this piece on Ragan.com, the Gap-owned retailer printed sports T-shirts with "Lets go" across the front. Obviously, the phrase is missing an apostrophe, and it should have read, "Let's go," as a contraction for "Let us go." No big deal, right?

Well, in most cases, probably not, except that Old Navy distributed thousands of shirts to college campuses across the country, with each shirt customized according to the colors, logos, and mascots of the individual college. For example, this short to the left is sold at the University of Michigan.

So what message does this send to the students? That correct grammar and punctuation are unimportant? Old Navy earns a fail on this one, particularly since the product had to be approved (and presumably, proofread as well) by multiple layers of management before shipping and hitting store shelves.

Exhibit B:  JCPenney. Our friends at Adweek caught wind yesterday of a social media firestorm created by the retailer when it decided to sell, and then later pull from its shelves, a $9.99 long-sleeved T-shirt that reads, "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." The promotional copy accompanying the item on the website only made things worse:  "Who has time for homework when there's a new Justin Bieber album out? She'll love this tee that's just as cute and sassy as she is."

The messages? That girls being intelligent just isn't cool; looks are the most important quality one can possess; and never the twain shall meet. Even though the shirt was intended to be fun and playful, teenagers these days, especially young ladies, are bombarded with inappropriate messages from multiple sources...and that just doesn't cut it with parents and educators.

Now, to be fair, JCPenney immediately responded to an online petition from Change.org requesting the immediate removal of the shirt by pulling the offering from its inventory. The company also individually responded to many negative comments on its Facebook page, although the responses were simply cut and pasted from one person to the next. Finally, JCPenney issued the following statement:

J.C. Penney is committed to being America’s destination for great style and great value for the whole family. We agree that the “Too pretty” t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. Our merchandise is intended to appeal to a broad customer base, not to offend them. We would like to apologize to our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect.

While we applaud JCPenney, from a crisis communications perspective, for its quick action to diffuse the controversy, let's face it:  the company shouldn't have been in this position to begin with.

P.S. Check out this story late yesterday from PRNewser on the "stupid shirt" debacle caused by JCPenney.

Tiger Woods Joins Twitter...Finally...In Effort To Boost Image

As widely reported today in this story by the Associated Press, this item in SportsNewser, and countless other mainstream consumer, sports, and golf media outlets today, former world No. 1 golfer and internationally-disgraced superstar Tiger Woods has officially begun using Twitter under his own handle, @TigerWoods. The account, as of this afternoon, already has well over 150,000 followers.

According to AP golf writer Doug Ferguson, who has a long-standing relationship with the star, Woods has been using his Twitter account since June of 2009, although the handle was secured and set up approximately one year prior, and the only tweets, before today, were to announce his Twitter stream, Facebook page, and redesign of his Website. You can see Woods' brief tweet history below:

Ironically, Woods is just launching this effort now, almost one year after news first broke of the now-infamous, Thanksgiving Day car crash in the driveway of his Isleworth home and his unbelievable series of infidelities with as many as a dozen women, even though he has long eschewed mainstream media in favor of making announcements exclusively through his cutting-edge Website. In the wake of his recently-finalized painful divorce, and his first season without a victory since turning professional in 1996, Woods is using Twitter and other media platforms to slowly begin rebuilding his damaged reputation. The key question related to all of this: will it work?

In addition to posting his first tweet, Newsweek posted an op-ed piece by Woods today titled, “How I’ve Redefined Victory,” and he is scheduled to be a guest for two segments on Thursday, November 17 on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning.” And Woods may make one or more television appearances in the next several weeks, according to his agent, Mark Steinberg, leading up to the golfer's annual invitation-only, end-of-season tournament, the Chevron World Challenge.

In the final analysis, it will take far more than a few tweets, op-eds, and media appearances to overhaul Woods' image as a liar and philanderer. However, based on fan and media reception at tournaments this year in which he's participated, it's readily apparent the tide is turning in Woods' favor, although he still has many skeptics and detractors. Above all, the most important ingredient in this equation is time; it takes time for people to forget about the past, and to recognize positive behaviors in the present which definitively prove that he has changed...as a golfer, as a husband, as a parent, and as one of the world's most recognizable athletes. There is no reason to believe that, if he stays on this path of growth and development, most people will eventually forget about the past. That's human nature, and it's a pattern we've seen repeated over and over with sports and entertainment personalities who've stumbled along the way and disappointed their fans and colleagues. Kobe Bryant...Pete Rose...Britney Spears...Bill Clinton...the list goes on and on of celebs who've redeemen themselves.

Regardless of what happens to Woods and his reputation, it will be interesting to see precisely how long, and through what tactics and channels, it will take for all of this damage to be repaired. Stay tuned...