Universal Studios Pulls 'Boys are Stupid' T-shirts in Face of Radio Campaign

January 13, 2004

For the second week in a row, a major Southern California business has removed T-shirts with the slogan "Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them" from its stores within half a day of the launch of a radio campaign against the shirts.

Men's and fathers' issues radio talk show host Glenn Sacks declared a campaign against Universal Studios during the Sunday, January 11 broadcast of His Side with Glenn Sacks in Los Angeles and Seattle. Dapy's, a Universal Studios-owned clothing store on Universal City Walk, carries the shirts, which depict a little boy running away as several rocks come flying at his head.

Monday morning Universal Studios was flooded with e-mails and phone calls from show listeners. Eliot Sekuler, Vice President of Public Relations for Universal Studios Hollywood, soon issued a statement apologizing for the shirts and announcing that they "have been taken off the store's shelves immediately and will no longer be sold at Dapy's or at any other location owned by our company."

Sekuler added that he considered the shirt's message "offensive," and emphasized that Universal Studios "does not condone any messages of intolerance to any group within our society and we regret having allowed this incident to occur."

Universal Studios' decision to remove the shirts follows two previously successful campaigns by the pugnacious talk show host. Over the past month Tilly's, which has 32 locations in Southern California, and Bon Macy's, a major Northwestern department store, have both agreed to remove the T-shirts after Sacks targeted them in previous broadcasts. The shirts have now been removed from 72 store locations.

In addition, Pop Art U.K., a United Kingdom based on-line retailer, pulled the shirts and similar posters from its product line Monday. Supporters of the His Side radio campaign from the advocacy group Equal Parenting of Canada and the U.K.-based Fathers 4 Justice had targeted the retailer.

Sacks commended Universal Studios for its decision, noting "I'm sure that the hateful messages on the T-shirts don't reflect the views of Universal Studios, and I'm glad they acted accordingly."

The shirts are distributed by David &Goliath, which says the shirts are among their bestsellers. FOX news columnist Wendy McElroy criticized the company in a recent column and provided a list of offensive slogans taken from the company's website and its T-shirts. These include: "Boys Lie -- Make Them Cry," "Boys are Full of It -- Fling Poop at Them," and "Boys Lie -- Poke Them in the Eye."

During his broadcast Sacks said "It really angers me that our boys have to confront this kind of bigotry. It also angers me that we’re telling girls that it’s OK to hate boys. When males insult females we call it 'woman-hating' and 'misogyny.' When females insult males, apparently it’s OK. No more."

Sacks added that he had already chosen his next target and will announce it on his next broadcast. Sacks show is heard at 9 PM Sunday evenings on KMPC 1540 AM in Los Angeles and on KKOL 1300 AM in Seattle.