A Tweet By The Gap Might Be Dividing The Nation Even More Than The Wait For Election Results

Sometimes the best tweet is no tweet at all, considering how many backlashes have erupted on Twitter. High profile figures step in it often, and brands have a tough time navigating even semi-political waters. A seemingly well-intended tweet might actually come across as chaos-inducing and tone deaf, like when people threatened to boycott Thin Mints (the tastiest cookie of all) after the Girl Scouts tweeted-and-deleted support for arch-conservative, newly installed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Now Gap is dealing with fallout from a not-great tweet while the U.S. anxiously awaits vote counting results after Trump falsely claimed victory over Joe Biden.

In the now-deleted tweet, the caption to a red-and-blue-split hoodie read like this: “The one thing we know, is that together, we can move forward.” (And yep, red and blue hearts did appear.)

The suggestion that a hoodie can solve all problems that divide the U.S. (and “close the gap” by literally closing the hoodie in GIF form) is not, uh, going over well when so many American people are hurting in 2020. After all, Congress can’t close their gap long enough to pass a second stimulous bill. So, people hopped on the sentiment all of with the silliness that it beckoned: “This tweet will divide the United States of America more than any election.”

And the similarities to Kendell Jenner’s Pepsi commercial did not go unnoticed.

https://twitter.com/menace2snacks/status/1324034493053759488

https://twitter.com/marham50/status/1324033522814885892

https://twitter.com/naomiblueriver/status/1324032856864161792

Sapna Maheshwari of the New York Times relays word from a Gap spokesperson, who asserts that this hoodie (unlike the tweet) wasn’t real, and it wasn’t for sale.

Further, the Gap would like to stress that “[t]he intention of our social media post, that featured a red and blue hoodie, was to show the power of unity.” The spokesperson also states that “[i]t was just too soon for this message. We remain optimistic that our country will come together to drive positive change for all.”