“Keep calm and rape a lot” and “Keep calm and knife her” are a couple of the t-shirt slogans that were sold on Amazon via the merchant Solid Gold Bomb. These controversial slogans were brought to my attention by AdFreak and further research proved them to be a slip up with the algorithm technology.

The manufacturing process used by Solid Gold Bomb to generate their T-shirts is truly impressive. By utilizing algorithm software, thousands of catchy T-shirt phrases are generated by combining words pulled from a few word lists to create product lines. Once the word lists are built, almost the entire process is controlled by computers. The company does not have a warehouse of preprinted shirts, instead, they have a strong relationship with a larger supplier that prints the shirts on demand as they are ordered. Ultimately keeping inventory non-existent. With a combination of low inventory costs and low capital costs, they are able to offer 1000’s of specialized t-shirts at a reasonable price. Making new T-shirt line extensions, to satisfy changing consumer needs and the fashion cycle, extremely easy to do. Do consumers value these shirts enough to be willing to wait extra time for the manufacturing of them?

Solid Gold Bomb offers a shopping product, where consumers normally take a fair amount of time comparing brands of T-shirts, and gives consumers a convenient place to satisfy all their t-shirt needs. By offering 100’s of diverse product lines, Solid Gold Bomb lessens the risk that consumers will not find what they are looking for.

So what did the slip up in product development cause? I believe that it did great damage to channel partners, namely the amazon brand, and hurt Solid Gold Bomb’s band equity. But this also goes to show that as society gets closer to technology, costs are lowered and efficiency is increased, however, trusting in technology sometimes leads to massive problems as Solid Gold Bomb found out.