Target's "Trophy" t-shirt offends, petition has 12,500 signatures

Target often carries irreverent articles of clothing in the young fashion department, it's where I got my silly but awesome space kitten leggings and various snarky t-shirts. Right now, Target is in trouble with the perpetually offended because of a selection of shirts. One reads "Trophy", another simply "Bride", "Mrs" and then there's "This is my backstage pass". So far 12,500 people have signed the Change.org petition. I'll assume that none of these people will buy these shirts, but I fail to see why I should not be able to - if I think it's funny. It references the expression "trophy wife", when a successful man has a very attractive spouse. I might, I've been known to wear offensive t-shirts that read "I airplane NY" and fly in ones that have the PanAm logo that reads "BOMB" instead. Different strokes for different folks. The author of the petition argues that such shirts "encourages a rape culture where women are merely objects", instead of seeing it as the joke it's obviously intended as.

If you hadn't guessed it already, these Target shirts are part of a collection aimed at brides and the bridal party. So on a hen-night, all the ladies may wear "team bride", or pick a shirt that they find funny and suits them such as "trophy", if they are one of the already married girlfriends. Target representative Molly Snyder sent the following statement to USA today to explain the collection.

“It is never our intention to offend anyone and we always appreciate receiving feedback from our guests. The shirt you’re describing is part of a collection of engagement and wedding shirts that are available in our women’s and plus size departments. The collection also included shirts that say 'Team Bride,' 'Mrs.' and 'Bride.' These shirts are intended as a fun wink and we have received an overwhelmingly positive response from our guests."

A few people are tweeting, and retweeting about the shirt and the news about the shirt has reached Time, Business Insider, and the Daily Mail where we found this explanation for the backlash. It's not just this shirt, it's the history of Target shirts.

However, Nicole Maiorana argued that the controversy has nothing to do with adult women buying and wearing the shirt.
'It's not really about whether she personally would buy it,' she explained: 'Target has a history of misogynistic merchandise aimed at children and young girls. We should be empowering young women, not glamorizing objectification. Where are the shirts that say "scholar" or "independent" or "I'm not an inanimate object that can be won"?'

For a company that promotes equal rights, you would expect @Target to refuse to sell a shirt that says "trophy" to young women.

— Sarah Grace |-/ (@MeetingSarah) May 25, 2015

The fact @Target has a a bridal shirt that says "Trophy" on it AND in the juniors section sickens me. How can that seem like a good idea?

— Katie (@comicsansislife) June 7, 2015

@Target under what circumstances should any human being wear a T-shirt that indicates that they are a "trophy" pic.twitter.com/NXIrg8wbvW

— Ashleigh (@AshleighReneee) June 14, 2015

Hey @target I'm in the men's section and don't see a Trophy shirt here why is that

— Amanda Nelson (@ImAmandaNelson) July 18, 2015