Sadly, we have arrived at a place in our culture where there is no longer a place for a pun or a joke. The latest demonstration of this cultural shift is the uproar which arose as a result of a t-shirt JCPenney is selling which reads, “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it.” Oh sure, buried in that statement is the not too subtle jab that pretty girls are stupid or, conversely, they are so hot they can get away with whatever they choose. But, seriously. what girl hasn’t uttered that in jest at one point or another?
The trouble is when a brand says it, the entire world is watching. And while the statement may, on it’s own and said one to one, be rather innocuous, when it has the heft of a brand like JCPenney behind it, it’s bound to draw fire from the naysayers.
Currently, the brand is putting out fires on Twitter and Facebook. For once, we’d love to see a brand simply stand up and say, “Can’t anyone take a joke any more?” Alas, given the current reactionary state of current culture, that would be akin to brand suicide. So sucking it up and apologizing is really the only way to go.
