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Old Navy's Artist Toddler Tees Are Confusing The Internet

by Jenn Rose

The Internet is freaking out right now, and it's all thanks to some very confusing Old Navy shirts for toddlers. Until very recently, the store's website featured graphic tees for tots that bore the phrase "Young aspiring artist" — but with "artist" is crossed out and replaced with either "astronaut" or "president." The questions started immediately. Were the shirts meant to discourage kids from being artists? Unlikely. The poor things are already down to half an hour of art a week in public schools, and even the restaurants that do provide crayons are only giving out two or four at a time.

Do the shirts imply that "artist" isn't a real job? That also seems like a stretch, since the shirt was designed by an artist, whose job it is to do art. Are they saying that it's better to be an astronaut than an artist? That's really subjective. I mean, astronauts get that cool ice cream like they have at the museum gift shop, but they also get osteoporosis, which sucks. And being a president is super stressful, especially when your successor might be this guy. Maybe a career in art is better, maybe not. Depends on the person, really.

Now, the People of the Internet have done what they always do, which is to get super offended, take everything personally, and demand an apology. Old Navy has pulled the shirt from its website, but the online outrage continues:

Look, I don't know what exactly the tees are encouraging kids to do, but it doesn't matter, because they're just tee shirts, and if your kid does whatever a tee shirt says to do, you have bigger problems to deal with. Let's all take a breath, step back from our computers, and calm down. Maybe do some art with your kids. Or not! Maybe build a model rocket or teach them about the electoral college instead. It's up to you and your kid, and I promise that Old Navy will stay out of it.