Controversial T-Shirt Hell Ad Pulled from Rolling Stone Magazine.

LAS VEGAS -- When tshirthell.com decided to make a public statement about Corporate America, they found it wasn't easy to get the word out. Corporate America, it seems was determined to keep them quiet.

T-Shirt Hell has always been a magnet for controversy. The last two months have been no exception. At the end of October, The Olsen Twins issued a Cease and Desist order to try and stop the distribution of a parody shirt; followed in November by one from eBay in response to a Christopher Reeve/eBay parody shirt.

"Our response was to write an open letter to Corporate America." said internationally renowned businessman and owner of tshirthell.com, Aaron Landau Schwarz. "The next step was to find a place to publish it. We don't normally purchase advertising. (Schwarz claims that even though tshirthell.com is the internet's largest t-shirt company he's only purchased one advertisement in just over 3 years of being in business). We had previously purchased ad space in Rolling Stone Magazine to promote our crazy, holiday gift-wrap. So, we decided to work with them again. We figured an open minded, anti-establishment, rock and roll magazine was the perfect place to make our statement."

Rolling Stone Magazine had other ideas. They declined to print the ad.

"Ultimately, they have the final say on what they print, but you would think we had submitted the Unabomber's manifesto, or those naked pictures of my mom." said Schwarz. "There was no profanity, no threats, nothing pornographic. We simply outlined our company philosophy, and asked people to buy our products. Isn't that what an ad is supposed to do? I think they took the ad personally. We understand that Rolling Stone is owned by a corporation. But that doesn't make you Corporate America; any more than putting a handle on your head would make you a lunchbox. Obviously, at some point they made the decision to be lunchboxes. They asked if we would run an edited version of the ad. It's an ad about censorship! That's not irony, that's (expletive deleted)-ed up."

T-Shirt Hell still hopes their letter will see print. "If you run a magazine, or a newspaper, we have it available on our site for anyone who wants to distribute it." says Schwarz. "But at this point it is no longer an advertisement. It may need to be run as an editorial piece. The ad has become much more than just a way to let people know we have 12 different gift-wrap designs available. This could be the Magna Carta of our generation. We need to find someone not afraid to print the truth, someone who understands the value of free speech. Speaking of value, did I mention you get 4 sheets for only $10?"

Launched in October 2001, www.tshirthell.com is the most visited t-shirt website on the Internet. The site averages over 80,000 unique visitors and over 600,000 page views daily (source Alexa.com).