Nike pulls this historic Boston Massacre T-shirt from sale
They have nothing to do with last week's marathon horror - but T-shirts reading "Boston Massacre" and intended to look blood-splattered have been pulled by Nike from stores and online retailers after last Monday's bombing that left three dead and more than 200 wounded.
The photo that Eric tweeted out
The phrase originally comes from 1770 when British soldiers fired on civilian protesters in Boston, killing five. More recently it refers to the Yankees sweeping the Red Sox in 1978 and in the 2006 MLB Playoffs - and their fans were the target audience.
After the events of last Monday, Eric Stangel, an executive producer on the CBS David Letterman show - and known as one of the world's most effective tweeters spotted the T-shirt in a Nike outlet store . He tweeted out a photo to his 124,000 followers.
His tweet read," Saw this @ Nike Outlet. Told them they shouldn't be selling it. They said "We've been taking them down. (Continued) pic.twitter.com/QgOrcRX5XG."
Brian Strong, a spokesman for for Nike told AdAge these were older baseball shirts mainly sold through our factory stores outlets.
"In light of the tragedy in Boston we took immediate action last week to remove this product from distribution," he said.
Online retailer Fanatics has also confirmed the T-shirts are no longer for sale on the site.
The move demonstrates again how "marketing can take on a horrific alternate meaning following real-life events," said AdAge.
Nike previously pulled an ad from the website of South African double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius declaring, "I am the bullet in the chamber," after he was charged with shooting his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
When Adidas launched a T-shirt last week declaring "Boston Stands as One," they pointed out that 100% of the sales would go to victim relief.