Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250110
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
``We made a mistake,'' Jay Allen, the company's vice president of corporate affairs, said from the discount chain's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. ``In this case, we overreacted.''
Wal-Mart pulled the shirts Aug. 21 from the only store where they were sold after a couple of customers complained they were offensive, Allen said. The store in Miramar, about 20 miles north of Miami, had sold about two-thirds of the 204 shirts.
The store will give away the remaining 100 or so T-shirts, Allen said.
``If demand calls for it, we'll consider putting some more in there,'' Allen said. ``If the same vendor comes to us with the same merchandise ... we will sell it.''
The shirt is emblazoned with the child character Margaret from the cartoon strip ``Dennis the Menace,'' smiling with her arms spread wide, making the proclamation about a woman in the White House.
``It's humorous and delightful,'' said Ann Moliver Ruben, the 70-year-old psychologist who designed the shirt. ``What could be threatening about that?''
Allen denied Ruben's claim that a Wal-Mart buyer told her the T-shirt's message violates Wal-Mart's ``family values.''
``This thing had nothing to do with family values,'' he said.
Asked if Wal-Mart would sell the T-shirt nationwide, Allen said: ``That's premature to talk about.''
Ruben, president of the Miami Lakes-based Women are Wonderful Inc., said her motive in marketing the shirts was to promote girls' self-esteem.
She bought the right to use the cartoon character from King Features Inc. and sold the shirts to women's groups for between $10 and $15 before approaching Wal-Mart over the summer.
Wal-Mart started selling the shirts Aug. 5 only at its store in Miramar. Les Bellanco, co-manager of the Miramar Wal-Mart, told The Miami Herald in August: ``We thought it was a very novel idea.''
Ruben said the company pulled the shirts Aug. 21. She then wrote to Wal-Mart, saying she would wait until mid-September to make the company's action public unless she got a satisfactory response.
AP-DS-09-23-95 2150EMIAMI - A Wal-Mart store pulled a popular T-shirt proclaiming ``Someday a woman will be president'' off its shelves, saying it was offensive to some shoppers.
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company stopped selling the shirts at the only store that had them after one customer complained. The store sold about two-thirds of its 204 shirts.
``It was determined the T-shirt was offensive to some people and so the decision was made to pull it from the sales floor,'' Jane Bockholt said. She refused to reveal the nature of the customer's complaint.
Ann Moliver Ruben, the 70-year-old psychologist who designed the shirt and sold them to the store, said the retailer's response means ``that promoting females as leaders is still a very threatening concept in this country.
``They are in the position of being a censor. That's what I don't like,'' she said.
The shirt is emblazoned with the child character Margaret from the cartoon strip ``Dennis the Menace,'' smiling with her arms spread wide, making the proclamation.
``It's humorous and delightful,'' Ruben said. ``What could be threatening about that? Evidently, it is to them and to their organization.''
Ruben said Sharon Higginbotham, a buyer for women's clothes at Wal-Mart's national office in Bentonville, Ark., told her the store would not carry the shirt nationwide because the message ``goes against Wal-Mart's family values.''
Ms. Higginbotham did not immediately return messages. Ms. Bockholt wouldn't discuss what the buyer told Ruben.
Ruben, president of the Miami Lakes-based Women are Wonderful Inc., said her motive in marketing the shirts was to promote girls' self-esteem.
She bought the right to use the character Margaret from King Features Inc. and sold the shirts to women's groups for between $10 and $15 before approaching Wal-Mart over the summer.
Wal-Mart started selling the shirts Aug. 5 only at its store in Miramar, about 20 miles north of Miami. Les Bellanco, co-manager of the Miramar Wal-Mart, told The Miami Herald in August: ``We thought it was a very novel idea.''
Ruben said the company pulled the shirts Aug. 21. She then wrote to Wal-Mart, saying she would wait to make the company's action public until mid-September unless she got a satisfactory response.
by CNB