Wednesday, May 1, 2013

From the Column: You Ain't Going to Believe this Sh....

Urban Outfitters has introduced a new line of products, see pic.

Drinking glasses, shot glasses can koozies and stuff to resemble prescription drug bottles and syringes. Where is the soul of this company, and of course their principle demographic and customer base is our children.

You can write the CEO of this company to share your thoughts if you are as moved as I was when I saw these:

Richard A. Hayne; CEO & Chairman 
richard.hayne@urbanout.com

You can say whatever you wish but here is a copy of my e-mail:


Dear Mr. Hayne,
 
Don't want to begin this e-mail rudely but I can think of no other way of stating how I feel.
 
Are you F...KING crazy. I see these new product listings with the can coolers, shot glasses and etc shaped and labeled like pill bottles.
 
What kind of genius came up with this idea? Do you realize that prescription drug abuse is killing more of our young people, YOUR CUSTOMERS, than cocaine and heroin combined?
 
Are you so devoid of a corporate soul that you can see no wrong with these products? These are products that should be pulled immediately and destroyed.
 
Sometimes we all make mistakes, this one is yours. DO THE RIGHT THING!
 
Sincerely,
Ron Grover
parent of an addict (currently in recovery)
"An Addict In Our Son's Bedroom"
 
ps.: want to see what prescription drug addiction does to a family? search back in the archive prior to July 2010.

10 comments:

Syd said...

Incredible! Shaking my head in wonder at stupidity and cluelessness.

Becky V said...

Very well stated, Ron.

DDD said...

There is power in numbers. We all need to make our feelings known. Great post, Ron!

Ming said...

Thanks for the email... here's my email to Mr. Hayne AND I plan to post this to my facebook page to engage my social network to do the same...

Mr. Hayne,

As the mother of a son who struggles with drug addiction, I respectfully request that you remove from your product offering the Rx related products you have for sale on your website and store. To merchandise, market and glorify to your target audience does absolutely no good for them nor society in general.

I do love your store and products, most times they are hilarious and fun but in this case it's bad taste. With the drug epidemic and dependency affecting our younger generation, sometimes with dire results, I find these products offensive.

I hope you not only have the intelligence to continue to innovate but the conscience to admit a mistake and remove these from your product offering.

Regards,

Annette said...

My letter....
Unbelievable idiocy!

Dear Mr. Hayne,
I would ask that you please reconsider your new marketing tactic of providing drink ware and other accessories that model prescription drug use. I implore you actually, to consider the message that you are sending to our youth by allowing these items to be sold in a mass market with your permission, which will be construed as condoning the use of prescription drug and alcohol use by not only under age minors but our young adults. You are choosing to be part of the desensitization process that the media hands out to our kids that makes drug and alcohol use seem glamorous and acceptable. In reality it is a death trap.

Let me add here that prescription drug use is an EPIDEMIC and leading cause of death amongst our youth. Please please take these items off of your shelves and websites and issue a statement saying you were wrong and irresponsible to have allowed these images and merchandise to have made it this far in your corporation.

If you would like data and statistics to back up these facts, I can provide those to you. Just let me know.....

Sincerely,
Annette Marshall
(parent of a beautiful and addicted 24 year old daughter)

austins said...

I guess I will leave my post here considering your more likely to read here first! I have so much to say but am headed to a AA meeting with my newly sober daughter day 16....I can honestly say I still don't believe she is for real...long story and I will post more later. HOWEVER I wanted to see if you could give me some good boundaries that I can put in place? Like I said, I will write more on my story, but I wanted to get this on here before I leave....please let me know.
Adoptive mom of a 18 yr old addict.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing. I am disgusted.

My email:

I do not even know how to begin this email. As a parent of an addict who struggles daily with addiction, I am sadden by your new product line. In order to understand what a parent goes through, you would have to be a parent of an addict. I would not wish this on anyone. It a very lonely place. Sometimes the only ending is death. I do not know if you have children. I would of thought that if you did, your conscious would of told you, this is not right. It is easy to promote a product that has no direct impact on your life. It’s cool right? Kids and adults will buy these? Easy money? Do morals come into play when you think about these products you sell? It makes my stomach turn and my heartache. I deal with these items on a daily basis. They are real to me. They are not a fake version that is just for “Fun”. This is my life. This is the life of my son. This is the life of every addict struggling everyday and those that are in recovery. It is a sick way to make money. I hope you take a step back and realize this. I pray if youdo have children, that you never know what being the parent of an addict is like.

Maria Wilkin

Dad and Mom said...

Dear Austins,

I read here but also feel free to e-mail me too.

I know how precarious it is with early recovery and all the suspicions we have as parents.

The most important to remember is that your daughters recovery belongs to her. It is her's to manage and from experience every time I tried to manage my son's recovery relapse followed.

That doesn't mean to do nothing. It means allow her to work her recovery and maintain the boundaries you have established before. Be clear, boundaries are yours. Boundaries are based upon your values and your recovery. I am going to provide you a couple links to past posts. One on boundaries and detaching with love and one on what I learned from my experience with my sons recovery when I finally learned to step aside to allow him to do what he needed to do.

http://parentsofanaddict.blogspot.com/2011/11/parents-and-recovery.html

http://parentsofanaddict.blogspot.com/2011/02/detaching-with-love.html

Anonymous said...

I sent him an email. I am so disguted and honestly can't believe this is in that store.

Anonymous said...

I am a survivor myself and understand your frustration.

However, I also see how these could be "gag" gifts for pharmacists, doctors, etc.

Perhaps it just isn't in the right store or setting.