Target’s ‘OCD: Obsessive Christmas Disorder’ sweater draws criticism online

Target is facing backlash for a fashionable faux-pas over a sweater that some on social media are saying makes fun of a serious mental illness condition.

Here’s the sweater (and tweet) in question that launched the firestorm:

Uh oh! That’s not putting people into the cherry Christmas spirit because it’s trivializing people who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, which affects more than 3.3 million people in the U.S. The sweater prompted an outcry of people who said they were disgusted or joked that they were surprised that Target doesn’t sell a “North-Polar Depression” sweater, among other comments:

Still, there’s a vocal group from the opposite side that’s telling them to lighten up and it’s only a joke:

Target is holding firm, saying in a statement that it “apologizes for any discomfort” it causes but will continue to sell the sweater. Even on Twitter, Target’s guest services account is telling angry shoppers that it will pass along their concerns to the retailer’s merchandising team:

Even if Target does pull the sweater, the basic phrase is available on Zazzle and Amazon.

‘Tis the season for outrage, fa la la.

https://digiday.com/?p=146206

More in Marketing

Meta’s Threads ads arrive fast, but advertisers move at their own pace

Threads ads are here, and so is the predictable wave of testing.

Privacy fatigue is setting in after Google’s cookie U-turn. But the search for alternatives hasn’t stopped

Third-party cookies are still widespread but they’re no longer foundational. The shift is already underway, it’s just no longer waiting on Chrome.

confessions guy

Confessions of a media buyer on Google’s third-party cookie U-turn and how it helped a ‘largely lazy’ industry innovate

For media buyers, it’s been a wild time filled with false starts, urgency and many delays to an ever-extending deadline.