It looks like the folks over at__American Apparel__ pissed off quite a few of their customers this week. While a large majority of us in the East Coast were stuck home Monday night due to the__Hurricane Sandy__disaster, American Apparel apparently thought it was a good idea to take retail advantage of the tragic situation. According to__Adweek,__ the brand sent out an e-mail blast to all of their customers promoting their special Hurricane "Hurricane Sandy Sale," a 20 percent off sale to customers in nine East Coast states. The promotional email read, "in case you're bored during the storm," and can you guess what the online discount code was? Yup, it was "SANDYSALE."
I have to admit, I was pretty outraged myself when I heard about this major controversy. First off, I think the last thing anybody was experiencing that night was boredom. Maybe fear, maybe anxiety, but definitely not boredom! I was lucky enough to have had no more than a few fallen trees in my backyard, slow internet, and flickering lights here and there. But a majority of New Yorkers and New Jersey residents were not as fortunate. An estimated 39 people have died from this natural disaster according to ABC News. Many homes were destroyed and thousands were without power.
My heart went out to this one particular family in Staten Island whose home was completely reduced to splinters after Sandy had hit in their area. The family was one of the few on their block who decided to stay home and weather the storm, mainly because their house was robbed last year during hurricane Irene. Their 13-year-old daughter, Angela Dresch, was found dead after the massive storm surge. Her mother was in critical condition and her father has been missing since the small house was washed away. So it completely baffles me that American Apparel would be so terribly insensitive as to use this tragic event as a way to drive sales.
They might have found their e-mail blast to be cute and humorous, but this hurricane was definitely no laughing matter! According to the Huffington Post, several blogs as well as numerous Twitter users expressed their anger and disgust over the retailer's insensitive and opportunistic move. In response to the "Sandy Sale," outrage, American Apparel stated that their blast actually "came from a good place," and that there was no harm intended. "We'd never meant to offend anyone," a spokesperson from the retailer told Fashionista.
But whether they meant to or not, people were offended and with good reason! I hope the retailer learned a lesson from all this. And my heart continues to go out to all the families who were tragically affected by Hurricane Sandy.
