Laura A., Brenly R., and Maurine C. all let us know about a shirt for sale at Urban Outfitters. The shirt came in two color combos: White/Charcoal and Obama/Black. Here’s an image of the Obama/Black option, via Jezebel:
There are a couple of things going on here. First, there’s the reference to Obama as a marketing ploy, which we’ve seen before, of course. But it also shows how ridiculous our racial color coding is; we continue to use colonial-era categorizations that there is a clear dividing line between groups based on color. Black and white are usually depicted as opposite colors, after all (and, of course, there’s the historic association of white with purity and black with evil). Most people don’t literally think of Black people as black or believe White people are white; people are, as far as I can tell, pretty much some shade along the off-white/tan/brown spectrum. But we continue to socially construct racial categories as though there is some meaningful, stark difference based on skin color.
So given that, if Obama’s half Black and half White, he’s gray, right? I mean, I’ve seen him on TV a lot and I’ve never noticed that, but maybe it’s the makeup.
I’m sure you will be sad to know that the Urban Outfitters website says the shirt is no longer available.
UPDATE: Reader applebrownbettywhite says,
Just wanted to let you know – I think both Jezebel and you guys interpreted UO’s color naming scheme incorrectly. “Obama” as a color refers to brown, which is the color of the buttons. You can check this assertion against the other shirt, white/charcoal, which is a lighter colored shirt with white buttons.
I’m not sure…the buttons look black to me. It doesn’t look like it has brown on it, but maybe it’s a bad photo.
Comments 32
Fangirl — February 3, 2010
Oh, Urban Outitters. Keep it classy.
I've got a question about the association of white/purity and black/evil, even though that's a little tangential. When pale skinned people first met dark skinned people, was the binary association of light/purity+black/evil formed then or did it already exist and was used to justify oppression?
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist — February 3, 2010
should have been called ALIEN GREY, cos that's the skin color of aliens!
"THE GREYS ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!"
adamson — February 3, 2010
It is known that Urban Outfitters has a shade of blue named "Obama blue", the color of blue that was used in the campaign cycle. The color Obama is not referring to the color gray. This has been said on most blogs, by now. The controversy, no doubt, has caused UO to take this off of their site.
applebrownbettywhite — February 3, 2010
Just wanted to let you know - I think both Jezebel and you guys interpreted UO's color naming scheme incorrectly. "Obama" as a color refers to brown, which is the color of the buttons. You can check this assertion against the other shirt, white/charcoal, which is a lighter colored shirt with white buttons.
Still more than bizarre to rename a shade of brown "Obama" though!
hampshireflyer — February 3, 2010
In 2008 all the satchel types in Esprit's winter line were named after men's names beginning with O, so I ended up buying an 'Obama' bag.
The one I've got is black, but I think it also came in brown or olive-drab (the only other two colours you can apparently get away with for a man-bag, but that's another story) and there was the same colour choice for another model called 'Olaf'.
I'm going to resist making any pointed comments about how quickly the shoulder-strap on my Obama fell off....
LS — February 3, 2010
Looks like they took it down.
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/5990/nolongeravailable.png
Laura A — February 3, 2010
I read on ontd_political that Obama is the blue color (Blue for dems?), and black is the color of the buttons. Apparently Obama blue has been used for awhile, it just didn't get noticed until it got paired on a shirt with black accents. Still, something marketing people need to think about before coming up with these things!
Little Bumble Bee — February 3, 2010
The reason for the Obama is here on Jezebel:
http://jezebel.com/5463612/urban-outfitters-explains-obamablack
apparently it was the computer system that shortened "Obama Blue
" to just Obama!
No racism, just cashing in on politics!
Lance — February 3, 2010
They also have a color called "Reagan Grey"; I have no idea what that refers to.
Pat — February 4, 2010
Read the update and agree. As usual, you idiots over-read things.
Goddammit, as one trying to get a job in academia, it's really frustrating to see how badly you folks are at doing academic work. Stop it. STOP IT.
Sarah — February 4, 2010
SocImages tends to post things just a little while after the rest of the media has gotten hold of them, and I think it's a wise choice. In this case, all of the new sources that got up in arms over "Obama/Black" are having to post and print redactments, explaining what happened to their consumers while probably feeling a little silly for calling a company overtly racist without ever asking if it's possible that a typo or computer error was involved.
So, in this case, the company took FOR EVER to let us know what was actually going on: that they use "Obama blue" - probably to reference the color of suit he most often wears - as a color, and since the outfit is Obama blue/black, a computer truncation error shortened the whole thing to say "Obama/Black". A wise choice on their part - just as some of the furor starts to die down, they get more publicity with the redaction and apology.
Good calls on behalf of publicity being made all around, huh?
kate — February 11, 2010
This post deserves another update for those readers who might not be looking at the comments. As mentioned by a few commenters above (and as further clarified here: http://jezebel.com/5463612/urban-outfitters-explains-obamablack), "Obama" refers to a blue color. Apparently Urban Outfitters' system shortened "Obama blue" to simply "Obama," causing the confusion.
The shirt is made from a combination of blue and black thread woven together, thus Obama blue/Black (see the first comment on Jezebel about 'burnout' for more detail). The other color combination is presumably a shirt made from white and charcoal colored threads interwoven.