North Carolina Jewelry Store Apologizes for Billboard Saying It Is ‘Okay to Throw Rocks at Girls’

A North Carolina jewelry store is apologizing for its controversial billboard that some people have said promotes domestic violence, WLOS reported.

“Sometimes, it’s ok to throw rocks at girls,” the billboard reads.

The statement appears next to the company’s logo and is surrounded by gemstones. Spicer Green Jewelers took to Facebook to apologize on Thursday.

“To whom we have offended with our recent billboard, please accept our apologies. We do not condone violence of any kind toward any being,” the company said in a statement on Facebook. “We did not intend to cause controversy and our billboard communicated something we did not intend. We intended the billboard as a play on words to encourage the loving act of gift giving and are deeply saddened that it offended anyone.”

Eva Michelle-Spicer, who owns the business with her husband Elliot, said the sign was not intended to be an endorsement of domestic violence.

“The billboard was intent (sic) to be a nostalgic thought of a childhood teaching,” Spicer told WLOS. “That it’s not ok to throw rocks at girls, it’s not ok to throw rocks at anyone… It saddens me that it was taken that way because it certainly wasn’t intended.”

The store promised to donate 10 percent of its sales to a domestic survivors’ shelter in Asheville through Sunday.

For some, the apology was not enough.

Ellen Perry, a literature and humanities teacher, said she organized a group to protest the sign on Sunday, and she plans to hold future protests until it is taken down.

“We are not going to stop until we see that billboard come down because it’s doing damage, even if we want to laugh it off and say it’s just a joke,” Perry told WAVY.