The Center for Science in the Public Interest has its knickers in a twist over Forever 21 selling “beer shirts,” because the clothing retailer is “popular with teenage girls.”
“Adolescent and teenage girls hardly need further inducements to drink,” wrote George A. Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project at CSPI. “Heavy drinking imposes special risks for girls, due to their lower body weights and different metabolisms and the contributing role of alcohol in sexual assaults, date rape, and unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.”
The devilish ts in question featured the logos of various beers such as Miller, Guinness and Foster’s, as well as catchy slogans like “beer is my anti-drug,” and “save water, drink beer.” Forever 21 has responded by quietly yanking the shirts from its website.
We don’t think the CPSI should be so hard on Forever 21. After all “21″ is in the name and they do have this handy outdated food pyramid shirt. I mean, what more could they ask?
Brewers Urged to Stop Marketing Beer Shirts to Young Girls [CSPI]
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Drunk teenage girls RULE!
mmm high school girls… I keep gettin’ older, they stay the same age!
Blah. Not everything in the world is made for kids. Whatever happened to adults? We buy and use stuff too …
Isn’t Forever 21 the clothing store owned by Jesus?
Don’t drink beer, drink wine!
Very odd… i am surprised this one got past the Jesus-loving owners.
Yes, I agree, drunk teenage girls rock… lord knows they rocked my world back in the 90′s…
*rolls eyes* Spencer Gifts has waaay worse stuff, and a ton of teens shop there.
I was expecting that food pyramid to have beer at the bottom… I was surprised to find the actual old-school food pyramid.
“Beer T-shirts For Teenage Girls Bad For America?”
I’d say no.
“Parents who allow their teenage girls to wear beer t-shirts bad for America?”
Yes.
@apronk:
Aww yes, Just as movie theaters seem to think it’s their duty to babysit your children and make sure they don’t get into Rated R movies, if you don’t KNOW where your child is, the movie theater letting him/her in to a Rated R movie should be the least of your worries.
Does Forever 21 specifically say that it’s for teenagers, or teenage girls? Because just from the name it sounds like it’s for people who just turned 21, and want to stay that way. Forever 18 shouldn’t sell these shirts, but 21 has the green light in my book.
Well, it appears the CSPI has gotten to them, the mentioned Ts aren’t on Forever 21′s website anymore.
@kingofmars:
yeah, I thought that’s what the name meant…to be forever 21
Noticed how nowhere was any responsibility put on parent to not let their precious teenage daughters out of the HOUSE with this stuff on. Where exactly did parenting disappear to, anyway?
Remember the ole “Not while you live under my roof” adage? Worked wonders for curbing a LOT of stuff.
@apronk: Amen.
@unklegwar: Amen seconded or maybe even thirded by the time I hit submit. Especially if I keep typing stuff.
Really, teen girls (at least the ones I have known) barley ever use money that they earned to buy this shit anyway. If they did earn the money, let them decide what to buy.
Anyway…let forever 21 sell stuff that may be for 21 year olds in the moral/ethical sense to whoever gives them the money. There is nothing illegal about an 18 year old buying a shirt with beer (in print) on it. Maybe if the beer was real, there would be a real issue here.
Forever 21 is set on sending young women to hell. How is it they sell such trashy clothing and place it a bag printed with bible cites? I cannot stand this store!
@Lo-Pan: If your teenage daughters do have lots of money they earned on their own, you probably have a much bigger problem than beer shirts.
Not very high on my list of things over which to show moral outrage. After all, it’s legal in Canada.
@unklegwar: You’re absolutely right, the “Not while you live under my roof” adage works wonders. Much better than the, “If I don’t let them do it here, then they’ll just do it at a friends house.” Because as long as you show them that you don’t approve of certain behaviors or products, they are less likely to do it outside of your home. Kids don’t need their parents to be their best friends.
Sorry for the rant, I was expecting more GTA IV backslash to fight against, and it has to come out somewhere.
I know my 14 year old son would love to have tshirts with beer slogans on them. The answer is
NO! That’s not appropriate.
Because one of us is the grown-up here.
guess who it is??
How about parents just pay attention to what their kids are wearing and stop trying to get things completely pulled off the racks? As stupid as the T-shirt is, I don’t think it should have to be completely unavailable to everyone just because parents think it might harm their special snowflake of a child’s brain.
This is so lame. My mom would never have let me wear such a tee shirt and even if I wore one now, she would mock me for being tacky. Stores can sell whatever they want to sell.
Posers. I always out drink the girl with the party shirt. But don’t worry about me. I can’t get pregnant or get proper raped.
Just sell them in ”Adult” sizes!
@Lo-Pan:
“Really, teen girls (at least the ones I have known) barley ever use money…”
Very punny.
@RandomHookup: It’s like Chris rock said, your job is to keep your daughter off the pole.
But yeah these shirts, no real moral outrage. Questionable for teens, but not illegal.
Let the parents handle it.
Isn’t Forever 21 the store that puts Bible verses on the bags?
I think they are; this is ironic, then. Right?
Oh wait…all ready mentioned.
I’m late and lame.
Still: ironic.
In related news, liquor stores everywhere stopped carding, oh, wait, they didn’t? Then ultimately the shirt, didn’t buy them the alcohol? Well who did? Guess no one cares about that part of it.
And has anyone pointed out that if your child wants to wear clothing that supports alcohol use, um sorry but that means it’s too late, and you kids have been drinking far before they bought the shirt. Parents, …- even mine kill me!
The thing that gets me the most is some parents would rather hide their child under a rock, then be a real parent and instill any kind of common sense into them.
I know I’m not the only one who got a beer from their dad as a teen, but i feel like I’m definately the last. One thing parents may want to teach their kids is that alcohol is not evil, and it may be a good way to celebrate a good time WHEN THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH!
@bonzombiekitty:
Couldn’t agree more. The shirt looks like a Build -A-Bear ad next to their selection of tacky,tasteless junk.
Two more reasons to stay out of the malls…
You guys give the CSPI way too much attention here. They’re the ultimate “for your own good” nanny group in the U.S. If they had their way we would all be vegans wearing padded suits and helmets 24-7.
Since I can’t really add anything, besides who cares about the shirts, I must comment with the following from a great and wise man:
I don’t wanna drop your friends off, I just want you
(You drunk and hot girl)
You wanna sit down but we hit the drive thru
(You drunk and hot girl)
Please don’t fall asleep baby we almost back
Please don’t throw up in the car we almost crash
Oh now you sober, how’d I know you’d say that
You drunk and hot girl
PS: We go through too much bullshit just to mess with these drunk and hot girls
Personally, I’m much more concerned about the thongs that appear as suggestions at the bottom of the food pyramid shirt. The thongs this site sells scare me much worse than any beer shirts – from the standpoint of a parent.
[www.forever21.com]
if mom buys it for her daughter then it’s okay
if you are not going to let me post please delete my account
Some people need to get over it. Kids will get wasted, shirt or not. It’s part of the learning experience. And if you overprotect them, they’ll only get wasted MORE!
@femmesavante: It depends. Do they cite the parts of the bible where God commands genocides? Or the part where these two girls make babies with their dad?
I am so sick of this paternalistic fascist creeping nanny statism.
Anyone ever heard of free speech? If you don’t like the message, don’t buy the shirt!
“We are scientists, we know what is good for you. Resistance is futile: You will be assimilated.”
@IrisMR:
You forgot some.
@femmesavante:
Ex. 21:7:
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.
21:10:
If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
Lev. 15:19-22:
And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even
And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
1 Cor. 14:34-35:
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
–
I especially like the last one. Maybe this “Bible” has some good points after all.
The other ones are more there for flavor, but it kinda looks like this “God” character doesn’t much like women. The best thing he’s done for them here is probably making sure that their husbands don’t treat one wife worse than all their other wives.
——–
The CSPI is just a ridiculous front. They have nothing to do with “Science,” and more to do with acting as though they know how to run our lives.
Yea i think the problem is a) the teenage hos who actually think wearing shirts like this is cool and b) our culture at large. F21 is one of the fewer offensive companies in my book. What about abercrombie shirts that are clearly geared towards teens that say things like, “One mans junk is another girls treasure” or “who needs a brain when you have these?”
It IS called Forever 21 (21 is our nation’s legal drinking age after all)… It’s not called Forever 16 or Forever 18.
That being said, I don’t think the shirts are making teen girls drink.
I understand parents’ anger though.
@RvLeshrac: Obvious troll is obvious.
@Charred:
I know nothing about this company!
But when you can hardly buy a hamburger without getting bible quotes on the bag…