Urban Outfitters Decides Maybe Prescription Pill Bottles As Shot Glasses Isn’t A Great Idea
Would you like some booze with your painkillers?
Another day, another highly controversial item pulled from the shelves of Urban Outfitters. This time, the retailer caved to pressure from legislators in states like Kentucky and agreed to stop selling shot glasses, flasks and beer mugs that look like prescription pill bottles.
The thing is, Urban Outfitters sells a whole lot of merchandise to teens, and as such, many of their items are marketed directly at that age group. And in Kentucky, where the population is already struggling with addiction, sending the message to youth that prescription pills are funny and fun, and so is alcohol — well, that rubbed lawmakers the wrong way. They said such products trivialize the pain of people addicted to drugs.
“I wrote a letter to the Urban Outfitters CEO shortly after learning about this abominable product line, and I’m very pleased that the store has changed course,” Gove. Steve Beshear said in a statement Wednesday via the Associated Press. “There’s nothing fashionable about prescription drug abuse, and selling teen-targeted items that glamorize prescription drugs is repulsive.”
The company issued a statement to the Courier-Journal of Louisville announcing the move to stop selling the items, after the campaign from anti-drug groups, legislators and 24 attorneys general. It called the “Prescription Line” a misinterpretation.
“In the 20,000 products that comprise our assortment, there are styles that represent humor, satire and hyperbole,” Urban Outfitters said in a press release. “We recognize that from time to time there may be individual items that are misinterpreted by people who are not our customer.”
Silly old people who aren’t hip enough to shop for overpriced bohemian chic clothing, don’t you get the joke? Booze and prescription drugs — together! What could possibly be wrong about that?
Officials: Urban Outfitters pulls pill glasses [Associated Press]
Urban Outfitters stops selling pill bottle shot glasses, accessories [Louisville Courier-Journal]
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