Susan Clemens tweeted (with screen grab evidence):
What the. Plus sized women get “Manatee Grey” while standard sizes are “Dark Heather Grey.” @Target #notbuyingit pic.twitter.com/nzHNYoytnp
Everyone and their manatee re-tweeted it.
Oh no. DAMAGE CONTROL! DAMAGE CONTROL, ALL AISLES.
Target instantly changed it and tweeted:
We apologize for this unintentional oversight & never intend to offend our guests. We’ve heard you, and we’re working to fix it ASAP.
Clemens’s reply?
Thanks!
Target’s Jessica Deede told Today.com, “We apologize for any discomfort that we may have caused.”
As the story rocketed around the blogosphere, there seemed to be a tendency to portray Clemens as disgusted, furious, or indignant. Clemens told various news sources that she was never “outraged,” merely asking a question. And there were perfectly good, dull explanations, having to do with different marketing teams for different product lines, and “Manatee Gray” not having been a problem as a color for towels. Placemats. Sheets.
Actually, I never wear a dress unless I have to be a bridesmaid.
The LA Times noted that Target also sells men’s short-sleeved shirts in Manatee Gray “in sizes ranging up to XX Large,” and wonders if complaints will come in about that. (Here’s my complaint. It’s a striped shirt. Which color is the manatee?
Clemens said she thought Target handled it well, gave the apology an A+, and said no apology was really needed. SorryWatch agrees that the apology was fine. (Though the word “discomfort” seems odd here.) We do think it was inadvertent. We don’t think Target employees ever thought of insulting customers, making a joke, or likening any group of people to affable sea mammals.
But I do worry about someone getting blamed for picking “Manatee Gray” as a color name for a plus-sized dress. Someone being the scapegoat. Someone getting bum-rushed out the back door of Target headquarters, squeaking desperately. “No! No! It wasn’t me! Didn’t they tell you it was called “Hippo Gray” before? I stopped that! This has to be a mistake! I am super-sensitive! I was the one who spoke against “Whale Blue” and “Barn Red” for the maternity line. Wait! Listen! It was me who said “Shrimpy Pink” and “Dust Mite Gray” were no good for the Petites collection. I told them! I did! I am all about the comfort levels! Ask them who said “Varicose Blue,” “Rheumy Pink,” and “Ashes of Hopes Gray” wouldn’t sell for the Mature Moderns line. Ask anybody!”
I also worry about the “Dark Heather Gray.” Really, gray? Target should get someone in to take a look at their heather.
*snort*
My very literal and fifth-grader brain goes through this every time I see color descriptions – I mean “skin tone” has given way to “nude” and I always laugh that nudity is a color. And “ginger” – that Britishism elbowing onto the American scene – someone needs to look at these people’s plants if coppery red is the color of either what they sprinkle on their food or that they grate for their gingerbread… heather has ALWAYS been pink/purple and green, yet the fashion industry has ALWAYS insisted that it’s gray. I suppose in the dead of winter, during an ice storm, the underside of the leaf might indeed appear to be a dead matte gray… but then, so is everything else.
But, why are we asking the fashion industry to make sense when they can’t even agree on baseline sizes!? Let’s not get me started…
Hey, let’s dump “nude” and rename all the skin tones after celebrities, moving along the spectrum from Swinton to Snipes. Me, I am generally Bullock but get Kardashian in the summer.
Highly practical idea. I remain basically Cage-colored year round, with an occasional touch of Nolte across the bridge of the nose, cheeks, forehead, and tops of shoulders if I am incautious while attending a baseball game.
You are right! If “nude” is a color, so is “birthday suit.”
I was trying to read this while listening to someone complain about something on the phone. Inappropriate snorts ensued.