Bloomingdale's apologizes for 'inappropriate' copy in holiday catalog

Bloomingdale's is apologizing for an ad inside its new holiday catalog that suggests "spiking" an unsuspecting person's drink.

The ad's text — next to a photo of a woman laughing and looking in one direction while a man gazes at her — reads: "Spike your best friend's eggnog when they're not looking." After customers complained online, arguing that the copy promotes date rape, the department store responded on its Facebook page: "In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we use in our recent catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale's sincerely apologizes for this error in judgement."

The criticism continued, with dozens of commenters asking how an ad "so far over the line" and "shameful" could have been approved and suggesting that the company make donations to charities helping sexual assault and domestic violence survivors. Others said the wording of the apology was off, with one customer writing: "You need feedback from the world to know it's inappropriate to suggest slipping something into someone's drink? This is disgusting and your 'apology' is pathetic."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up