Memo Assignment

You are an employee in the public relations (PR) department at Urban Outfitters. The marketing director approaches you to compose a recommendation memo in wake of the Kent State University sweatshirt controversy. Both the PR team and the executive board of the company, in pursuit of producing a public response, will read the memo. This memo needs to be both an example of proper business communication (formatting, spelling and grammar, word choice and tone), and provide recommendations on how a corporate entity should communicate with the public (recommendation).

As a piece of proper business communication, the memo should identify your audience, your purpose and message in a concise, formatted document; as a recommendation, it should display a personal analysis of the event, an understanding of potential audience of the PR statement, a definitive stance, and the appropriate medium through which this statement should be made. Please adhere to memo formatting rules in chapter 4 (chapter 3 in 3rd edition), and concise writing rules in chapter 2, and keep the memo under 1 page single spaced.

Urban Outfitters Response via Twitter

Urban Outfitters would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Kent State University and the Kent State community. We are deeply saddened by the recent uproar our Vintage Kent State sweatshirt has caused. Though it was never our intention to offend anyone, we understand how the item could have been perceived negatively. The tragic events that took place in 1970 are not forgotten and our company regrets that people believe we would intentionally make light of such a horrific part of our nation's history. To promote such an event is disgraceful, insensitive and in poor taste. To further clarify, despite what has been reported, this is a vintage item and there is only one. Once the negative feedback was brought to our attention we removed the item immediately from sale. Urban Outfitters purchased the one-of-a-kind sweatshirt from the Rose Bowl Flea Market as part of our sun-faded vintage collection. There is no blood on the sweatshirt nor did we ever promote it as such. The discoloration that has been mistaken for blood is from natural fading and sun exposure. With all of that said, this truth does not excuse us from our failure to identify potential controversial products head on. We, as a company who caters to a collage-age demographic, have a responsibility to uphold to our customers. Given our history of controversial issues, we understand how our sincerity may be questioned. We can only prove our commitment to improving our product-screening process through our actions and by holding ourselves accountable. Again, we sincerely apologize for this unfortunate misunderstanding and are dedicated to perfecting our internal processes to help avoid these issues in the future.

Kent State Response via University Webpage

May 4, 1970, was a watershed moment for the country and especially the Kent State family. We lost four students that day while nine others were wounded and countless others were changed forever.

We take great offense to a company using our pain for their publicity and profit. This item is beyond poor taste and trivializes a loss of life that still hurts the Kent State' community today.

We invite the leaders of this company as well as anyone who invested in this item to tour our May 4 Visitors Center, which opened two years ago, to gain perspective on what happened 44 years ago and apply its meaning to the future."