Abercrombie & Fitch has mastered the art of publicity through offensive business decisions--effective, if only from an economic perspective, for its target demographic. So the latest episode, about the t-shirt that says "West Virginia: It's All Relative," is not surprising. (The Governor of West Virginia, in protest, demanded that Abercrombie destroy its entire inventory of these shirts.)

What seems to have gone underreported is that the state t-shirt idea didn't originate with Abercrombie. Last year, Urban Outfitters had its own line of slightly offensive t-shirts, including the colossal hit "New Jersey: Only the Strong Survive."

Abercrombie certainly didn't invent the art of ticking people off. But somehow they are able to use it to gain what is perceived by some of its customers as favorable PR--even for re-purposing someone else's t-shirt idea.