Controversial shirt pulled from store shelves
Published March 9, 2004
The group Mobilizing America's Youth wants college students to know voting isn't only for old people.
Urban Outfitters pulled a shirt with the saying, "Voting is for Old People" from its stores on Friday after MAY launched an online petition on March 3 calling for a boycott of the store, MAY spokeswomen Selena Shilad said.
"We were really excited about the overwhelming response that we received from the call to boycott," Shilad said. "In about 48 hours, our Web site received thousands of hits, and hundreds of people signed our petition."
Mobilizing America's Youth is a nonpartisan group that encourages young people to engage in civic and political involvement.
Other youth outreach programs, including PunkVoter.com, Rock the Vote and The Harvard Institute of Politics, also expressed concern about the shirt.
Freshman Todd Bauman said he has shopped at Urban Outfitters in suburban Chicago about five times and likes the store because of the vintage-looking clothes and funny shirts it sells. He said he doesn't think the shirts are all that controversial.
"A lot of people take things offensively when it's just a joke," he said.
Shilad said MAY still is pushing Urban Outfitters to offer voter registration forms at its stores.
"Pulling the shirt isn't enough," MAY's executive director David Smith said in a statement. "If Urban Outfitters truly has no interest in discouraging young people from voting, then they need to take positive, constructive steps towards encouraging youth voter participation."
Smith said the group wanted the retailer to offer voter registration forms at all of its stores. He said thousands of members of the organization were willing to assist in registering voters at any of the chain's locations in the country.
Urban Outfitters could not be reached for comment.
"They've put out a lot of controversial things in the past," Shilad said.
In October, Urban Outfitters stopped selling the board game "Ghettopoly" after black leaders in Philadelphia called for boycott until the item was pulled from the shelves.
Shilad said the company had to know the T-shirts made a negative statement about voting.
"We are trying to put forth a positive message and showcase youth-activist messages," she said. "Urban Outfitters is a youth-targeted chain and something needed to be done about the message they were sending."
Shilad said it is important to encourage youth voting, especially during this important election year.
"In a year when the youth vote is increasing, it is important to encourage them to get out and vote," she said.
Youth voting increased 400 percent in Iowa's and Delaware's presidential primaries and 50 percent in New Hampshire's, according to MAY.
"We would have hoped that a youth-targeted store like Urban Outfitters would send a positive and encouraging message to youth in this election year," Smith said in the statement.
There are 55 Urban Outfitters stores throughout the nation. The closest store to Columbia is in Lawrence, Kan.