Zara pulls ‘gluten free’ graphic shirt amid outrage it trivializes disease
Zara is discovering that gluten-free community isn’t full of laughs.
The fashion brand has pulled a T-shirt from shelves that read “Are you gluten free?,” a misfired joke intended to mock the diet fad. Yet, some people felt the shirt was offensive because cutting out the ingredient is a life-saving necessity for those with celiac disease.
The shirt sparked an outrage online, prompting a Change.org petition that collected 53,000 signatures.
“The message of this shirt trivializes an important health problem,” it says, asking Zara to not only stop selling the shirt, but to apologize and commit to “not trivializing” the disease.
To Zara’s credit, it listened.
“We sincerely regret that this case can be interpreted as a trivialization of coeliac problem completely opposite intention of Inditex,” its parent company said in a statement, adding that it has pulled the shirt from stores.
It’s the latest t-shirt faux pas that’s struck a fast fashion chain. Last week, Forever 21 apologized for selling a shirt that made light of rape.
More in Marketing
Even with a new U.S. TikTok deal in sight, marketers feel uneasy
A new U.S. TikTok app means starting from scratch.
How Best Buy aims to woo advertisers in a crowded and competitive RMN marketplace
Best Buy Ads held its first upfront event to pitch new ad products and creator partnerships as it vies for budget in a competitive retail media space.
Future of Marketing Briefing: In the age of AI, the CMO role gets a corporate makeover
For all the TED-talk theatrics about transformation and innovation, the CMO gig has, for the past 15 years, been one long exercise in reactive survival.