Stranger Things Underarmour Debacle Is The Wrong Complaint

Written by Robert Scucci | Published 1 hour ago

Even though I’m disappointed in something that doesn’t last Stranger Things Season 5 with its sloppy writing, over-ambitious but not entirely satisfying world-building, big-budget special effects that look somehow worse than Season 1’s serviceable, low-budget approach, and Max nearly killing himself while at the same time watching his iconic Season 4 Kate Bush poke a single needle in the past: The Under Armor Clash.

If you happen to be alive and ignore this kind of minutiae, here’s what happened. In Season 5, Episode 7, “The Bridge,” there is a moment where Holly’s dress is revealed to be historically incorrect for the era it is portrayed in. He is wearing an Under Armor product. Stranger Things Season 5 takes place in 1987. Under Armor wasn’t founded until 1996.

If you spend any time online, this “historically inaccurate wardrobe malfunction” has become the talk of the town on fan forums and Reddit threads, with people insisting that this is somehow bad writing. No, it’s not. Everything else is bad writing. This is a two second draft of the brand’s logo that didn’t exist in 1987, and that the casual viewer would never recognize.

Why It Doesn’t Matter In Any Meaningful Way

We are currently living in the year 2025. Stranger Things happened in the 80s. A great amount of care has been taken throughout the series to maintain accurate timing and markings. Eggo Waffle boxes and new Coke logos are of the era. But since, and this repeats, Season 5 was produced in 2025, small slips are inevitable.

While many critics, including myself, called the last season cheap looking despite the huge amount of money that went into it, we’re still talking about huge art departments, VFX crews, and wardrobe teams putting together thousands of details at once.

Vintage cars. Simple food for the season. The clothes are as close to period-accurate as humanly possible. Overall, Stranger Things You’ve done a great job of staying true to this. I have absolutely no desire to talk about the thumb-sized Under Armor logo appearing two seconds into a series about Demogorgons, the Upside Down, bald teenagers with telekinetic powers, Mind Flayers, and giant gates dripping with creepy goo.

It’s all just a normal day in the life of Hawkins, Indiana, but is the Under Armor logo going to ruin your dive? Get the original.

It Happens All the Time in Popular Media

While it’s true to show the dysfunction of the show’s romantic wardrobe, this is simply the reality of filmmaking, and it doesn’t say anything about the series’ writing. We’ve already pointed out a lot of really bad writing that should be scrapped if that’s what it is, and it’s all on this site.

Look at any movie or series ever made and you’ll find little slips like this.

James Cameron The pit of the abyss Notable ones include a shot where you can see a hand with a paper towel wiping the camera lens because it got wet during one of the film’s most intense scenes. It’s still in the movie. You can see it when you freeze frame. James Cameron didn’t see it until late in production and, in so many words, said, “Eh, leave it in. Nobody’s going to see it.”

Here’s the thing. No one noticed years. The shot stayed because it had the best performances and served the story. It’s so immersive time that no one really cares.

Martin Scorsese Goodfellas features a cigarette that disappears during Henry Hill’s (Ray Liotta) sequence. Believing that the helicopters are following him, he just gets out of his car, and smokes a cigarette while driving in one direction, only to disappear in the other. This is not bad acting, directing, or filmmaking. He is an editor who chooses strong shots from multiple angles after they come out of the press to tell the story as effectively as possible.

It happens all the time. In good movies. In bad movies. And yes, even in between Stranger Things.

KowTowing To Criticism Is An Essential Part Of True Ministry

What’s so confusing about the Under Armor debate Stranger Things Season 5 is the logo set. Some viewers even claimed that the episode was pulled mid-stream, only for an updated version to be uploaded later.

In George Orwell’s book 1984a cautionary tale about tyranny and government excesses, this kind of revisionist programming only occurs in the Department of Truth, where Winston Smith spends his days altering historical records to mislead the public. In case you have never read 1984this is not a good thing.

Yes, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have gone back and forth and changed their films before re-releasing them, but Stranger Things edit, and what it represents in the age of digital media, sets a precedent that is not really resolved. This is the visible gas light over the tiniest flaw imaginable.

Someone in the wardrobe department made a mistake. They should own it. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.

Most importantly, Who Cares?

I really don’t want to live in a world where media is changed in real time to cover up mistakes, no matter how small. It’s a very slippery slope to find yourself on when the media uses the same practices as a way to spin a narrative. Adjusting color grading for modern home media is one thing. I’m not against the return of 4K. But digitizing a logo with surgical precision while people are watching in real time is something entirely different that you should be aware of by all means.

And forgive me for being blunt, but what kind of loser frames a show while you’re watching it for the sole purpose of playing gotcha online?

I’m all for exposing the flaws in the popular media. It’s fun to discuss things that the world loves, and I’ve done it many times with this game. The problem is that when every microscopic slip is treated as a disaster, the critical criticism is diluted.

If everything is urgent, nothing is. Pick your battles. The Under Armor debacle is not a hill any sane person should want to die on.

Stranger Things is streaming on Netflix.