Plum Crazy

Mall security asked a man who bought an anti-war t-shirt at the mall to leave for wearing it at the same mall. When he resisted, he was arrested. Rick over at The Rant raises an excellent point about this story, which is why it's perfectly okay to sell and buy said shirt at mall, just not to wear it. That is a bit inconsistent. "Sure, give us your money on our property for anti-war shirts, but just don't use them on our property."

Even beyond that, however, it's just bad business sense. Yes, the mall is private property and has the right to refuse service to anyone it wishes. However refusing to serve someone because they choose to wear an anti-war t-shirt is bad PR and will alienate a segment of their market. They could well lose some customers because of this. We're not talking about extreme, fringe views here either. We're not talking about refusing service to neo-Nazis or members of the KKK who walk around with clothing parading their views. Most people would probably be relieved if people like that were refused service, and in most areas they don't make up a large enough percentage of the populace to make a big difference. But anti-war proponents? Most people probably have a friend or family member who expresses such sentiments. This is not good business.