Apple-themed Gag Children’s T-Shirts Discovered For Sale At National Pharmacy Chain

FEATURE: 04.01.19- Today on this April Fools Day, for your amusement we take a look at a couple of gag children’s t-shirts discovered for sale at a leading national retail pharmacy chain which parody two of the Cupertino, California-based tech company’s products and appropriately so since this day is also the same day that Apple, Inc. was founded 43 years ago on April 1, 1976.

While I was doing some shopping one evening in November 2010 at a local Walgreens — the second largest pharmacy store chain in the U.S. — some items on display caught my attention. First, because it is odd and rare to see clothing being sold at a drugstore, and second, because these particular items were Apple themed.

The two pieces of clothing — which were children’s sized, possibly for toddlers but they just as well could have been for babies — clearly poke fun and take a jab at two of Apple’s core products.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and creating products that mimic those made by Apple — remember all of those copycat items that were made in translucent colors following the release of the original iMac in 1998? — is probably the highest form of imitation one can reach. Some companies get away with it and Apple doesn’t have a problem with it but on occasion it can get those companies in hot water and a knock on their door from the legal department down in Cupertino.

Then there’s the case of products that parody the original which can either be a good thing or bad depending on how it’s received by the public as well as the company on the receiving end that is being made fun of. Usually, the parody of the original item lends credence to its status in pop culture, for instance, as with the two t-shirts discovered for sale at Walgreens back in 2010.

One of the t-shirts was modeled after the click wheel of an iPod which had buttons that said “menu,” “nap,” “eat,” and “play.” The menu and play buttons are, of course, actual ones found on an iPod — the play button being a pun and aptly so (though a poop button in place of menu would have been more appropriate as a gag, especially as the bottom button…) — while the nap and eat buttons replace fast forward and rewind.

The other t-shirt, which was loosely based on Mac OS X, displayed a status bar in green — it would have been better in blue to match the Apple operating system’s theme (codenamed Aqua) — that said “diaper loading” and “72% complete.”

I don’t remember how much those t-shirts were being sold for — I think they were $9.99? — and there could have been more designs hanging on the rack, quite possibly also Apple-themed, but I never thought to look through the entire assortment that evening.

In addition, that was the only place and time I ever saw those t-shirts on sale when I was shopping at Walgreens.I’m sure they may have made their way around to other clothing retailers and department stores but, to tell you the truth, I never personally encountered them anywhere else but there.

If you wanted to get one of those t-shirts for your own kids, you could easily find them online if you searched hard enough and in the right places.

In fact, a similar themed “diaper loading” t-shirt — which is also available on other clothing items — is sold by CafePress, an online gift shop that sells billions of various customizable items and products.

It’s never too early to expose your kids at an early age to the world of Apple, in hopes of passing on one’s love of its vast array of hardware and devices to them — making your offspring not fall far from the proverbial apple tree, and in turn, making them Apple fans for life — and these two Apple-themed gag t-shirts can do just that. Plus, the t-shirts are cute and, not to mention, attention grabbing!

Hopefully Apple takes the parodies lightheartedly and appreciates the tribute to its products. Otherwise, cease and desist letters, anyone? (Insert smiling pile of poop emoji here, ha ha, April Fools!).

Have you seen any similar Apple-themed gag t-shirts, which parody our favorite tech company, out in the wild? If so, share your photos (or links to where you found them online) with us here — they will be featured in a future edition of The “Mac Potpourri” Mailbag — by sending them as attachments to: j.leo@macprices.net.