The Mandarin Oriental Hotel building in the new CCTV complex went up in flames on February 9.
The following day, an enterprising t-shirt retailer released a line of fire-related shirts.
The t-shirts, which are carried on the Ray.Wow website, are the subject of a short article in today’s Beijing Youth Daily. Shown here is the most eye-catching design of the lot, but the heroes of the incident — the firefighters, one of whom died — are not left out. The designer offers another t-shirt that reads “Family Life LOVE: Braveman China FIREFIGHTER.”
The Beijing Youth Daily story quotes the reactions of a number of BBS commenters and bloggers. There’s little condemnation in the article, but a familiar accusation is raised:
Netizens all expressed admiration for the swiftness of the designer’s reaction. However, there were also those who said, “The picture is Photoshopped” and expressed their distaste at the designer’s exploitation of the CCTV fire as a marketing tactic.
- Beijing Youth Daily via Sohu (Chinese): CCTV Fire T-shirt for sale online
- Raywow (Chinese): Fire t-shirt, Firefighters t-shirt