【Michael Maien】

Not now,Michael Maien The Gap.

For the love of God, just not now.

Look at this (now-deleted) tweet calling for unity, and for moving forward together. The hoodie is half red and half blue to unite the political parties, get it, get it, ahh how clever, how smart.

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Not a great idea. Credit: Screenshot / twitter / @gap

Meanwhile, we're all waiting around, during a pandemic, nervous as hell for what happens next. The president of the United States is frantically making false claims in an effort to undermine the legitimacy of election results he doesn't like. Pardon my French, The Gap, but that's some bonkers shit and I really don't need a hokey call for unity or a thinly veiled plea to buy your hoodies. I wasn't alone in my feelings. Lots of on Twitter weren't pleased with The Gap's tweet.

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People also pointed out that even the design of the hoodie was kind of dumb.

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During the writing of this article, The Gap seemingly wizened up to the fact that people really didn't like their post. The tweet was deleted. Gap told the New York Timesthat the sweatshirt was not actually for sale.

It told the paper: "The intention of our social media post, that featured a red and blue hoodie, was to show the power of unity. It was just too soon for this message. We remain optimistic that our country will come together to drive positive change for all.”

But the whole thing gets at a bigger truth: Brands — our dear stupid brands — you don't have to post right now. There's no law requiring you to make some mealy mouthed, bland, aggressively nonpartisan statement. Just shut up and let us fret.

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