Bloomingdale’s Offers Apology For Ad Suggesting ‘Date Rape’ With Eggnog ‘Spike’ Among Friends


A new advertisement in a catalog from Bloomingdale’s that reads “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking” has caused enough backlash that the department store felt it needed to formally apologize with a tweet.

The ad depicted a young man and woman, with the “spike” a drink suggestion splashed in fashionable font between them. The woman is smiling and looking away, while the young man looks toward her with a somber expression.

The Huffington Post called the ad “super creepy” and suggested that it may be “suggestive of a date rape scenario.” Never a good thing for an upscale American department store.

Department store apologizes offer "date rape" ad.
[Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Bloomingdale’s]
Burger King, as the Inquisitr has previously reported, has tried its hand at cursing in prepared statements, and is perhaps well-known for its sometimes racy advertising. In the seemingly endless quest to gain the attention of consumers, marketers are always pushing the limits of what was previously acceptable. Burger King appears to have gotten away with its cursing stunt. Bloomingdale’s may have been well-advised to steer clear of the “date rape” segment of American consumers that they originally, after having now apologized, appeared to set out to capture the imaginations of.

In addition to tweeting an apology, Bloomingdale’s made a statement with Tech Insider, attempting to absolve themselves of their offensive ad copy.

“In reflection of recent feedback, the copy we used in our recent catalog was inappropriate and in poor taste. Bloomingdale’s sincerely apologizes for this error in judgment,” a representative of Bloomingdale’s was quoted.

Twitter users weren’t impressed with the Bloomingdale’s catalog.

“If it was supposed to be funny, it wasn’t,” Twitter user BrandyMarie wrote under the #daterape hashtag.

In 2014, NY Mag wrote about the changing face of date rape drugs and how, in the 1990s, rohypnol was the drug of choice, but today, drugs like “GHB (or “liquid Ecstasy”), Zolpidem (also known as Ambien), scopolamine, and a few lesser-known benzodiazepines, like temazepam or midazolam,” are used.

GHB is known to be deadly. In 1999, 15-year-old Samantha Reid of Gibraltar, Michigan, died when someone slipped a dose of the date rape drug — like the one the Bloomingdale’s ad is seen as glorifying — into her Mountain Dew, according to the New York Times. Shortly after her death, GHB was added to the list of Schedule 1 drugs in the United States, joining LSD and heroin.

Bloomingdales apologizes for offensive "eggnog spike" ad.
[Photo by John Sciulli/Getty Images for Bloomingdale’s]
Three of the four males that were originally implicated in Samantha Reid’s drugging death were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and poisoning, according to CBS.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human services reports that date rape drugs are often colorless and have no smell or taste. It can be easy for those who would attempt to administer drugs like GHB and rohypnol to unsuspecting victims to do so in environments where alcohol is being served. The most common use of date rape drugs is to sexually assault victims.

Not drinking alcohol, keeping a close eye on drinks, not accepting drinks from strangers, and not drinking from communal punch bowls and other open containers are suggested, among many other ways, to protect oneself from the dangers of date rape drugs and sexual assault.

Bloomingdale’s first started doing business as “Bloomingdale’s Great East Side Bazaar” and operated on East 56th Street in New York in 1872. The department store chain operates 40 stores across the United States today.

In September, Bloomingdale’s announced that, for the eleventh year, the company would support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Marisa Acocella Marchetto Foundation, and The Carey Foundation. The store gives customers incentives to donate to the foundations with the option to make annual donations via Bloomingdale’s merchant cards, “The Little Pink Card,” and “Pink Products.” Bloomingdale’s also teamed up with artist Donald Robertson to produce T-shirts and sell them for $28, with $18 from each sale going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

[Feature Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images]

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