Lululemon Marketing Misfire Ticks Off Buffalo

Lululemon pored over two years of market research and came up with an interesting way to woo Buffalo shoppers: Twist a dagger into their very souls as they walk into the store. The yoga-accessory maker thought it would be a swell idea to have the words "Wide Right" and "No Goal" featured prominently on a tile mosaic in the floor, reports the Buffalo News. The first phrase refers to a missed field goal that cost the Bills a Super Bowl, the second to a disputed goal that knocked the Sabres out of the Stanley Cup finals. Buffalonians, still one championship shy of their first championship, revolted on social media. (Here's a typical "are you kidding me?" tweet.) And Lululemon quickly apologized.

“We want the Buffalo community to know that we have heard them and we are sorry,” an exec tells the National Post of Canada in an email. “We get that this didn’t land well, and we want to make it right. We have covered up the mosaic and are having it removed.” The company swears it meant the mosaic to be inspirational. It's not the first marketing trouble for Lululemon, whose founder once blamed customers complaining about ill-fitting pants for having big thighs. And that was after the fun with the see-through pants. (More Buffalo stories.)