Fail Gap · 2012
'Manifest Destiny' on a T-shirt
What happened
Gap sold a shirt printed with the phrase 'Manifest Destiny' from a designer collaboration. After protests from Native American communities and an online campaign, Gap apologised and withdrew it.
What went wrong
The phrase is the nineteenth-century doctrine used to justify westward expansion and the dispossession of Indigenous nations. It is not an abstract slogan about ambition.
The rule
Historical phrases carry their history. If a community was on the receiving end of the phrase, they are the audience that decides what it means.
Takeaway
Search the phrase before it goes on a garment. The first page of results is the review.