Um... O...kay?

Pretty sure this had to have been dreamt up after a random day of cruising theonion.com, just you know, 18 years after they thought it up.

Earlier this week you could put whatever you wanted into the URL and it would print on the shirt. Guess they fixed that. I wonder if they'll still ship my "Rupert Murdoch raped me and all i got was this lousy t-shirt" shirt.

Also, CNN wants photo evidence of you wearing your new adpparal:

I took my CNN shirt on vacation, and I have great pictures. Where can I send them?
Please upload any photos of you wearing a CNN Shirt to www.ireport.com/tshirt. Your photo will be considered for future contests and our CNN Shirt photo archive. [www.cnn.com]

Click any of the available shirt links and take a close look at the URL -- you used to be able to change it to whatever you wanted! Looks like they fixed it, though..

@Michael Belisle: I know what you're getting for Christmas.

I saw this tonight for the first time -- I thought it was really bizarre. Are they just banking that their witty headline writers will come up with something that so perfectly encapsulates the human experience in five words that everyone will need it on a t-shirt? Let's see: "Time capsule scroll intrigues school." No, that one's not so good; "Expired food sold at low, low prices." Ok, well, maybe that one works. Still, .500 is a high average to keep up.

@Marsupial: Could not agree more. Especially for $15 a pop.

I think a shirt that simply says "This CNN." with a picture of James Earl Jones on it would be the best option if CNN really really wants to do shirts.

I want a "Clinton News Network" shirt! How can I get one???

oh my god i have to have "Oops! Dad gives boy, 7, booze at game"

Did they fix their system so you cant write your own shirt anymore? I know a week or so ago on Fark people figured out how to put in their own headlines and it was hilarious.

How about a snarky "Anderson Cooper guest hosts on Regis and Kelly. I saw it on CNN."

weekly world news had something like this

"Would you like an apple pie wit dat....?"

Mother of Eight Makes Hole in One

New Bridge Held up by Red Tape

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped

Eye Drops Off Shelf

Farmer Bill Dies in House

Air Head Fired

"Incest family holds 'astonishing' reunion"

Awesome.

Um, did they forget to launch this on April Fool's Day. (Or, worse yet, was it an April Fool's Day idea that the powers-that-be actually liked?)

Consumerist forgot to mention that these shirts aren't for everyone. In fact, the cotton garments require a PC or Mac:

What are the minimum computer specifications required to use CNN Shirts?
Windows

* Microsoft Windows®: 98SE, 2000, Millennium Edition, XP Home Edition, or XP Professional
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, Netscape Navigator 7, Firefox 1 or Opera 7.51
* 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM
* Broadband Internet connection or access to a high-speed network
* Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution

Macintosh

* Mac OSX
* Safari 1.2, Firefox 1 or Opera 7.51
* 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM
* Broadband Internet connection or access to a high-speed network
* Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution

[www.cnn.com]

@BigElectricCat: "Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped"

hahaha . . . gross.

I think it's been taken down, because I can't find the link but CNN had a story a while back with the title:

"Man Mistaken for Water Rodent, Shot in Face"

now THAT would look great on a shirt!

@lightaugust: "Area bassist fellated"

Your sisters over at Gawker has an extensive depository of CNN headlines:

[cache.gawker.com]

Even when you COULD alter the URL to make your own shirt caption, it wouldn't let you add that shirt to your cart. It was mildly amusing to see it on the screen, though.

@spinachdip: Kind of partial to this one myself.

eff that! i want a Wolf Blitzer Beard!

also, isn't this admission that they consider their own news to be sensational?

I think they stole this idea from The Onion.

@spinachdip:

The back page of each issue of Columbia Journalism Review always has the most delicious two-headed headlines, poorly-captioned photos and craptacular writing.

It's like LOLcats for journalists.

Yay, there's a new one!#! "Teen too young for 'come hither' pose?". Eagerly awaiting the day Chris Hansen jumps out of a pantry to confront the guy wearing one of these.

@Orv: think? they totally stole this from The Onion. They were making those tees in the 90s.

They had one up over the weekend that said "Smuggled workers turned into slaves" or something like that. And you could buy it as a shirt. :)

Did anyone happen to notice that they appear to be using Spreadshirt to offer these shirts? Just go to www.spreadshirt.com and make your own store. Then you can make take a wide variety of clothing and put whatever you want on it. There's no minimum or anything, you can make a shirt and order it for less than 15 dollars depending on the type of clothe you use.
But, yeah, essentially CNN is making money for doing nothing...just make your own and you can put whatever headline YOU want.