WAYLAND, Iowa – A New York state company will stop production of Red Ribbon Week bracelets and discard its remaining inventory of the rubber wrist bands because of an unintended message printed on them.
The bracelets, handed out last week to students in the WACO school district in southeast Iowa, carried the anti-drug slogan "I've Got BETTER Things to DO than DRUGS."
The issue was the unintended message of the all-uppercase words: Better Do Drugs.
Mark Taxel, executive vice president of Hauppauge, N.Y.-based Positive Promotions, said no one noticed how the words looked on the bracelets before they were distributed. Only two complaints were received about the bracelets, he said.
Taxel said the company doesn't want to put out a message that could be misconstrued. He said a new bracelet would be produced in all capital letters.
Darrell Smith, superintendent of the WACO school district, welcomed Taxel's decision, saying two complaints is "two too many."
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