T-Shirt Advertising WorldCom

http://dp.la/api/items/ed2202cdb944459307081f1555039fa7

T-Shirt Advertising WorldCom

WorldCom

Anvil Knitwear

1990s

This olive green t-shirt has screened lettering in a light avocado green. The front reads: "generation d". The back reads: "it's not an age, it's an attitude". All letters are lowercase. Size XL. The shirt appears to be unused. There is a black WorldCom logo (complete with starburst) on the back just above the quotation.

Acording to the donor, in 2001 the early Internet service provider UUNET was integrated into WorldCom and the UUNET brand was abandoned at the direction of WorldCom marketing executives. WorldCom launched a massive internal and external publicity campaign under the title of "generation d." This t-shirt was given to large numbers of employees at all levels. As part of a directive from the Human Resources and Legal Departments, efforts were made to emphasize that this initiative was not intended to promote younger data marketing experts and marginalize older employees who had worked on Internet-predecessor plain-old telephone systems (POTS). Accordingly, the company adopted the slogan and tagline on this garment: "generation d -- it's not an age it's an attitude." WorldCom's "generation d" campaign and the abandonment of the UUNET name reportedly were stiffly resisted by long-time UUNET employees. Derisive references were made to "generation duh" and "degeneration." WorldCom would file for bankruptcy in 2002 after an accounting scandel. It was rebranded as MCI and then sold to Verizon in 2006.

Currently not on view

Anvil Knitwear

WorldCom

Smithsonian Institution

http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID=nmah_1246887&repo=DPLA

Anvil Knitwear

WorldCom