August 9, 2005

Myron E. Ullman, III
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
J.C.Penney Corporation, Inc.
6501 Legacy Drive
Plano, Texas 75024

Dear Mr. Ullman:

We were disappointed to discover that this Sunday's JC Penney's catalog for back-to-school clothes and accessories features T-shirts decorated with logos for Jack Daniels, Budweiser, Miller Lite and Guinness. The moderately priced ($9.99) shirts are described as “men's novelty tees,” but they appear on the same pages with “young men's, boys' and girls'” fashions worn by models who appear high school age at the oldest.

Underage drinking is a huge problem in the country. In addition to the many young lives lost in DUI crashes, underage drinking contributes to school failure, sexual assault, suicide, and violence and increases the risk of life-long alcohol dependence. Media messages that glamorize drinking or trivialize youth drinking fuel this tragic and costly problem. We understand why the makers of Jack Daniels, Budweiser, Miller Lite and Guinness would want young people to wear these brand names on their clothes. We don't understand why Penney's would be an accomplice to irresponsibly promoting alcohol to underage youth.

We urge you to remove alcohol brand clothing from your stores. We also hope you will make it a policy not to carry such merchandise in the future.

Sincerely,

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