Independence Day is a great opportunity to jump on the USA nationalism spirit bandwagon, posting pictures of fireworks displays and star spangled banners.
How not to do this was perfectly exemplified by American Apparel, the headline hitting clothing company out of LA, when they posted a picture of supposed clouds on Tumblr over the weekend. The image was not of clouds, but of the aftermath of the Challenger explosion from 1986. The company issued an apology blaming a young worker who was born after the tragedy that claimed 7 lives, after deleting the post.
This is not the first time that the company has been in the news, with multiple sexual harassment lawsuits brought against the now ex-president, Dov Charney. The board of directors recently voted to oust him from his post, but he claims to be fighting back, something that many investors are keen to avoid. Charney has, however, been a champion of fair pay for all of his factory workers, alongside supporting equal rights for the LGBT community and immigrant workers. American Apparel’s image has been tarnished multiple times over the past few years, mainly because of marketing blunders such as this one. We suggest that they maybe employ some quality control to their social media, rather than letting something such as this happen again.