American Apparel set off fireworks on social media after they mistakenly posted a picture of the Challenger space shuttle disaster before the Fourth of July.
The edited photo was posted to the clothing company’s Tumblr page and tagged as “Smoke Clouds” late Thursday afternoon — but was quickly taken down after several commenters pointed out the mistake.
“This is the iconic image of the Challenger space shuttle exploding,” one person wrote. “Not just some cool smoke and clouds.”
American Apparel issued an apology a short time later, blaming the mishap on a worker who was unaware of the 1986 tragedy that killed all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.
“A young social media employee who was born after the Challenger tragedy unfortunately re-blogged a photograph of the explosion on our Tumblr account unaware of the context,” read the statement posted to Twitter.
“We deeply apologize for the insensitivity of that selection and the post has been deleted.”
The blunder came just weeks after the company’s board of directors voted to replace Dov Charney as chairman and to remove him as president and chief executive officer.
Charney, who has dodged several sexual harassment lawsuits, has vowed to fight for his job back.
