American Apparel blames ‘international’ employee for posting Challenger photo

The day before the Fourth of July, the brand’s Tumblr reblogged a famous image of the space shuttle exploding with the tags ‘#smoke’ and ‘#clouds.’

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Pls tell @americanapparel that this isn’t a “cool tumblr photo” of clouds. h/t @slarkpope http://t.co/uwoSR9MwwK pic.twitter.com/SzIsisnz8y

— kenyatta cheese (@kenyatta) July 3, 2014

People speculated about whether the post was American Apparel intentionally stoking controversy—something it has done before—or it was posted by someone too young to remember the disaster. At least one millennial said she had seen the image in the context of the disaster, even though she was born after it happened:

@ARossP @Red__Rover @kenyatta @americanapparel @slarkpope Idk, man. It’s a pretty iconic image. This Millennial recognizes it.

— Emma M. (@MaryTylerMog) July 3, 2014

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