Yesterday, Forbes reported that a Target customer noticed a politically incorrect color listing on a plus-sized dress while shopping online. Susan Clemens noticed the color description for a kimono maxi dress changed from “Dark Heather Gray” for the standard sizes to “Manatee Gray" for plus sizes.
Displeased, Clemens tweeted her discovery to Target and her followers with the hashtag “#notbuyingit.” As of today her post has been retweeted nearly 300 times.
Target spokesman Joshua Thomas insists that the change in color description is not a subtle joke. “Manatee Gray” has actually been used to describe the color of many items including petite and regular sizes in the women's department. Thomas said the discrepancy in names arose due to miscommunication between two teams inputting product information for the dresses.
“We apologize for any discomfort this might have caused and are working to update the name of the dress...This was an unfortunate oversight and we’ll take it into consideration moving forward,” said Thomas.
Business coach David Anderson commented on the snafu, “Wow, talk about a major blooper! I have to say from a marketing perspective regardless of any other issue, to call a color Manatee on something as feminine as a dress, especially one that you are presumably trying to sell in your store can only be classed as a major mistake. It doesn’t really matter what size you are or how nice the dress is, it’s going to be a definite negative for some people. I have to say though, if you turn the picture of the dress on its side it does start to resemble a Manatee!”
Target has since apologized to Clemens directly as well as 536,000 followers. “We apologize for this unintentional oversight & never intend to offend our guests. We’ve heard you, and we’re working to fix it ASAP,” the company tweeted.
Currently, color for the plus-sized version of the dress, is simply labeled “gray.”
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