The Budget Babe | Affordable Fashion & Style Blog

Forever 21 Spreads Gospel with Every Purchase

Sometime last year, we noticed the words "John 3:16" printed on the bottom of a Forever 21 shopping bag. Weird—that was our first thought. Why did they reference a Bible verse on the bottom of all their iconic yellow and black shopping bags?

Mind you, we had been shopping at the store for at least a year without ever noticing the message. We proceeded to google the mysterious message out of further curiosity (apparently, we weren't paying close enough attention in Sunday school since John 3:16 is one of the most widely quoted verses in Scripture).

The verse reads, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

We tried to connect the dots...Does the phrase "forever twenty-one" have something to do with the "everlasting life" bit? Seemed like a stretch. No, the owners must be God-fearing Christians, we decided.

A little more detective work and we discovered that Forever 21's owners, Don Chang and his wife Jin, are indeed devout Christians. According to an article in The New York Sun, a spokesperson for the company says the inscription is a "demonstration of the owners' faith."

Mystery solved. As far as we're concerned, it's a privately owned company with the freedom to write whatever they wish on their bags. Could it be seen as prostelitizing? Sure. Strategic marketing? Absolutely. Offensive? Hardly. After all, if sexually explicit and violent imagery can be shown all over the place, why not a Bible verse? Personally, we're more offended by ads for antibacterial soap—the science is faulty and we're sick of being scared into thinking we'll die of bird flu if we don't scrub our hands with the fervor of Lady Macbeth.

But enough from us, what do you think? Is the message on the Forever 21 bags a form of unwelcome evangelism or harmless self-expression? And is it in line with the rest of the company's operations?