Parents and youth alcohol groups protested after finding shirts promoting Guinness, Budweiser, Miller, Corona, and Crown Royal liquor being marketed to teens. "There have been alcohol-branded T-shirts in stores for a long time, but what's new here is the brazenness of J. C. Penney marketing this as a back-to-school product," said Amon Rappaport, a spokesman for the Marin Institute. "It begs the question of why is J. C. Penney doing the alcohol industry's dirty work of marketing to kids."

The alcohol industry also asked the retailer to change the focus of its T-shirt marketing. "We are adamantly opposed to underage drinking, and we never want our intentions to be misperceived by having our licensed merchandise placed or advertised incorrectly by a store," said John Kaestner, vice president of consumer affairs at Anheuser-Busch.

A J.C. Penney spokesperson called the teen-oriented advertising a mistake. "We certainly understand parents' concerns, and we don't want to associate ourselves with promoting alcohol to youth," said spokesperson Daphne Avila. Company stores were instructed to remove the shirts from their young men's department and place them in their mature men's department. "At this time we have decided to continue selling these shirts, but only to fulfill the tastes of adults who like this fashion trend," said Avila.

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