American Apparel is just not having a good month.
After firing longtime CEO and AA founder Dov Charney, the struggling retailer is once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
On Friday, July 4, the company issued an apology after posting a stylized photo of the Challenger disaster on its Tumblr page last week.
The edited photo, which was tagged as "smoke clouds" in a misguided nod towards Independence Day, shows the space shuttle's explosion in front of a bright red background. (Seems like someone wasn't paying attention in history class).
But for the rest of us, the image of the Challenger, which exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after takeoff, is still haunting. The disaster resulted in the deaths of all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
“We deeply apologize for today’s Tumblr post of the Space Shuttle Challenger," the company's statement read. "The image was re-blogged in error by one of our international social media employees who was born after the tragedy and was unaware of the event.”
The photo was quickly taken down after receiving a barrage of online criticism.