Company apologises for 'Keep Calm And Rape' T-shirts
Source: The Sun
FURY erupted last night over vile T-shirts featuring the slogan Keep Calm And Rape which are being sold on Amazon.
A vendor known as Solid Gold Bomb was selling a sick range with phrases such as Keep Calm And Rape A Lot emblazoned on the front.
Last night, more than 50 complaints were made about the garments, which are being sold in the novelty T-shirts category.
They caused a Twitter storm after DJ and comic Lauren Laverne slammed website bosses.
The 34-year-old wrote: What the **** Amazon?
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4821235/company-apologises-for-keep-calm-and-rape-tshirts.html#ixzz2MO6tcMSb
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4821235/company-apologises-for-keep-calm-and-rape-tshirts.html
Amazon slammed for selling T-shirts with the words 'Keep Calm And Rape Them' message on front.
A company is selling t-shirts with the slogan 'Keep Calm And Rape Them' emblazoned across the chest on Amazon.
The online clothing store, Solid Gold Bomb, sells the short-sleeved t-shirts for between £15 and £17 on the warehouse website.
But potential customers are clearly not willing to buy the deeply offensive t-shirts, slamming both Amazon and the clothes shop, which has its headquarters in the UK.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2286848/Amazon-slammed-selling-T-shirts-words-Keep-Calm-Rape-Them-message-front.html#ixzz2MO7QzC2C
Amazon row over 'rape' T-shirt.
Internet retailer Amazon is continuing to sell clothes from a US firm despite a row over a T-shirt printed with the message: "Keep calm and rape a lot."
On Friday, US company Solid Gold Bomb apologised for selling the T-shirt and removed it from sale, saying a listing was automatically generated in error.
At 12:00 GMT on Saturday, the firm had T-shirts with messages including "keep calm and hit her" on sale.
Amazon has yet to respond to a request for a comment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21640347
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)That this was somehow okay?
Neboken Ja Neyo..pull your damn heads out!
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Cultural insensitivity is built right into our automatic world. The likely answer is that nobody at Amazon was thinking about it.
Rather, a computer probably quite happily accepted the design and the money, without a "thought" at all.
But I know what you're thinking, you random special you out there somewhere: Rush is AWESOME!
Scairp
(2,749 posts)The question that should be asked is, what about the company that made them? What exactly were they thinking making such a t-shirt? Who the hell inside that company thought it was a good idea to put that on a shirt and then thought someone would actually buy it?
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Who wants to support Amazon if it can't even provide a little oversight of products it sells?
Next up: "My shirt was made in a sweatshop that burned workers unrecognizable"
Amazon sells tons of stuff that will offend somebody. It's not their job to censor, just as a local bookstore should not decide what material is offensive or not.
And was this sold by Amazon, or by a third-party via Amazon? Many companies sell their own wares using Amazon services - Amazon can't possibly monitor every one.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)if that is the case... than there is only one word I could say..
[font color="black" size="60" face="bold"]BAKA![/font]
GeoWilliam750
(2,521 posts)For better or worse, Japanese swear words just do not have the heft for these people.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)Welcome to DU... Irasshaimase, ...Yokoso!
Jumpin Jack Fletch
(80 posts)jsr
(7,712 posts)Thanks for your interest in contacting us. We have been informed of the fact that we were selling an offensive t-shirt primarily in the UK. This has been immediately deleted as it was and had been automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against 100s of thousands of dictionary words.
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)You're just going about, tying to make a buck and BAM you're selling something disgustingly offensive.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)Doncha know?
(jic)
another_liberal
(8,821 posts)I misread your t-shirt slogan. I could have sworn it said, "Stay calm and spit a big loogie on this t-shirt."
Little Star
(17,055 posts)Channel4.com
02 March 2013
A spokesman for Amazon UK told Sky News: "I can confirm that those items are not available for sale."
However, although Amazon has withdrawn that item, it also offered shirts from the same firm that apparently advocate domestic violence.
One shirt for sale on Saturday morning was emblazoned with the message: "Keep Calm And Hit Her".
http://www.channel4.com/news/amazon-removes-offensive-keep-calm-and-hit-her-t-shirts
freshwest
(53,661 posts)No wonder the GOP had to be dragged kicking and screaming to pass the VAWA. Thanks for the additional images. I'm sure they'll be selling something like these again any day now...
Scairp
(2,749 posts)Where is "Keep calm and blow her brains out"?
Scairp
(2,749 posts)This company makes a lot of novelty t-shirts, and I would urge everyone to check out their own t-shirts and see if they are made by this company. If so, I would mail it back to them (COD), and ask them to refund my money. Assholes. And many of these sayings make no sense, and that may be on purpose, I don't know, but they are stupid. At any rate, someone had to have seen these shirts beforehand, even if they only saw them as they put the listing up on Amazon. I guess it never occurred to the moron doing it to ask themselves if this was perhaps not a great idea for a t-shirt slogan, let alone something that should be listed for sale.
tblue37
(65,227 posts)that would actually explain those shirt slogans that make no sense. The program picks a verb and then a noun or a pronoun that is supposed to be the direct object of the verb, but the verb doesn't fit logically or, in some cases grammatically, with the noun or pronoun that is meant to be its direct object.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)I'd love to knock some sense into them.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)Lucky Luciano
(11,250 posts)...I have a twisted sense of humor that many here would probably find vile (e.g. Love Family Guy humor)....but seriously.....WTF?!
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)These guys are not only stupid, but seem out of touch with modern humanity. Well, I hope there is complete success with the "new" branding campaign they are about to experience.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)The British had it made at the start of the Second World War to try to encourage people to, well, keep calm and carry on, but it was never publicly distributed. Someone doing some archives-diving found a surviving copy about ten years ago, and a few years after that people started playing around with the image.
No specific marketing past that beyond everyone jumping on a jump-on-able image that's old enough to be in the public domain. (A couple idiotic companies are trying to trademark or copyright the original poster.)
As for this particular company's branding, I imagine they're starting to feel like they just sat on one, and for a screwup of that magnitude I'm quite okay with that.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Now and then the intarwebz as a whole seem to decide that one thing or another will be fun to play with for awhile, and the specific poster that company's based that shirt off of is one of those.
I'm kind of fond of that one (as a Canadian, "keep calm and shovel on" appeals to me at this time of year), but a lot of the results of people playing with it get pretty stupid.
mimi85
(1,805 posts)we got a bumper sticker that said "Keep Clam" and advertising a restaurant. I still smile when I see it in the garage. (My husband has stickers all over one wall in there). Men - some never grow up. Which can be a good thing at times.
reACTIONary
(5,768 posts)RedstDem
(1,239 posts)There's nothing there except offense.
Is that the whole basis of it existence?
Wtf
What sort would wear something so gutter trash as that?
I just don't get it.
niyad
(113,086 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)mercuryblues
(14,525 posts)raping, hitting, and knifing a woman doesn't work
You can always choke her or screw her
http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Choke-Black-Jersey-T-Shirt/dp/B007E0J07S/ref=sr_1_1?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1362239389&sr=1-1&keywords=Solid+Gold+Bomb+keep+calm+and+choke+her
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=Solid+Gold+Bomb+keep+calm+and+blow+him#/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dapparel&field-keywords=Solid+Gold+Bomb+keep+calm+and+screw+her&rh=n%3A1036592%2Ck%3ASolid+Gold+Bomb+keep+calm+and+screw+her
Computer generated, my ass.
Not one of those sayings are directed towards males.
But hey, it is only an exersize in free speech and all. They are entitled to their opinion and can express it anywhere.
tblue37
(65,227 posts)verb being changed. The program could be directed to choose a transitive verb, but the "her" could be, like the "Keep calm" part, unchangeable.
Of course, that means the original plan was to come up with a bunch of things to "do" to "her"--which means that whatever was going to be done was always going to be done to a woman, and it was inevitable that some of those things were going to be violent and awful.
petronius
(26,598 posts)plugging in verbs. But since they chose to let a computer fill in the blank in "Keep calm and _____ her", and then they chose to let those things go online un-vetted, the 'computer did it' excuse doesn't excuse anything at all...
(It's a really stupid business model for another reason too, IMO: given how many of those results were nonsense or just stupid, how many customers will wade through 20-odd pages of "Keep calm..." shirts to find one that works?)
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)Damn. Sick.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)Just stop buying their shirts. Hit them in their pocketbooks. That's the only thing that works in this country.
judesedit
(4,437 posts)cate94
(2,810 posts)someone gets raped, whether on a t-shirt or on a message board is not okay.
Suggesting someone get raped in prison, is not any more acceptable than suggesting someone get raped for any other reason.
It is the same. It isn't okay.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)BainsBane
(53,016 posts)should not be wished for under any circumstances.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)It would be like a neon sign that says don't date me, don't talk to me, and pretend I don't exist.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)Last edited Sat Mar 2, 2013, 01:46 PM - Edit history (1)
oh, they only do it to misogyny when it's bit less vile. All of a sudden here is some "free speech" they are afraid to defend.
Got it.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)But their products are hideous and they are getting the opprobrium they deserve.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)and appropriate for this community. if they're at all consistent, we should hear any minute now to "lighten up" because it's satire.
Texasgal
(17,041 posts)it's amazes me me how many don't get it. Especially here on DU. *sigh*
Sheldon Cooper
(3,724 posts)to demean will have their wish come true here.
This is sarcasm, by the way.
athenasatanjesus
(859 posts)Step 1 be shocking.
Step 2 profit.
Prism
(5,815 posts)Usually the little corners populated by adolescent males of all ages who often seem relationship challenged.
I love edgy humor. This doesn't qualify, IMO. It's just assholery at its finest.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)is that Amazon have not blocked the supplier from listing with them.
We do get some quite lairy tees here but these ones are OTT.
Prism
(5,815 posts)But I will not be surprised when the company is told to keep calm and sell somewhere else.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)by the simple minded among us.
what's next- Cliff notes for Beevis and Butthead?
Prism
(5,815 posts)In this case, however, one wouldve thought that line rather thick and rather bold.
BalancedGoat
(261 posts)Their excuse about the listing being generated by a computer script seems absurd at first. However, if you look at some of their other listings, it begins to seem more likely.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_94?rh=n%3A1036592%2Ck%3Asolid+gold+bomb+keep+calm&page=74&keywords=solid+gold+bomb+keep+calm&ie=UTF8&qid=1362260721
Some of the shirts are so nonsensical that I can't imagine someone sitting there being "yeah, this is a great idea for a shirt."
The format seems to be "Keep Calm and (random verb up to 5 letters) (Her, Them, Us, Out, On, or In)". This results in a large number of offensive shirts. You can find at least one on almost every page of results.
Still. You think someone would have been smart enough to come up with a list of words to exclude from the script; "rape" being at the top of that list.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)yeah, they didn't consider gender at all...
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)I'm guessing they print to order as opposed from stock.
I'd have thought the expression was pretty meaningless in the US. It comes from our government posters beginning of WW2 "Keep Calm and Carry On".
Revanchist
(1,375 posts)As offensive as I find this, I'm not sure how much of the blame should fall on Amazon, see that they have over two million third-party vendors and this particular company is ranked close to 5,000 in popularity in the clothing section. Because this story is less than 24 hours old and it is a weekend, I'm going to give Amazon until Monday afternoon to see what action, if any they take against this company and what their official statement says. I also agree that whomever designed the auto-script to create the slogans should be sacked.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Not UK.
Revanchist
(1,375 posts)But potential customers are clearly not willing to buy the deeply offensive t-shirts, slamming both Amazon and the clothes shop, which has its headquarters in the UK.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)There is no UK shop and I think they refer to Amazon.co.uk / EU being here which is wrong too : Its a Luxembourg company.
tblue37
(65,227 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)The Sun made a reference to Oxford for whatever reason whereas :
Solid Gold Bomb, a label of Harold Ross Inc, based in Massachusetts
>
It closed its Facebook and other social media accounts on Saturday morning and left a message on its website which read in part: "We have been informed of the fact that we were selling an offensive T-shirt primarily in the UK. This has been immediately deleted as it was and had been automatically generated using a scripted computer process running against 100s of thousands of dictionary words.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/mar/02/amazon-withdraws-rape-slogan-shirt
The BBC refered to Solid Gold Bomb being a US company too and here's their website : http://www.solidgoldbomb.com/
btw - we don't use the expression "inc" in the UK.
sakabatou
(42,141 posts)kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)excuse they are trying to pass off as an apology. And their About Us page is blank.
Well, they can't keep their contact info private forever if they want to keep selling product.
The guy gives a long, drawn out sob story about how they have SO MANY different t-shirts and the bad computer just automatically generated this one, so really it was just an accident.
Sorry, dude. You have a responsibility to keep track of what you are selling. I hope your company goes belly up.
Beacool
(30,247 posts)They have other T-shirts inciting men to "knife her" and to "hit her". Amazon should pull this company from their website.
Disgraceful!!!!!