The multinational retailer issued an apology for the not so nice ugly Christmas sweater featuring Santa with what appears to be a straw in his right hand, sitting at a table with three white lines and the words, “Let it Snow”.
What We Know:
- According to CNN, the implicated drug themed sweater was pulled from the Walmart Canada online store.
- The sweaters were sold by a third party seller on Walmart.ca only. Customers are able to make purchases on Walmart Marketplace which is a website set up for sellers to sell their items that Walmart has to approve.
- The product description was very detailed and stated: “We all know how snow works. It’s white, powdery and the best snow comes straight from South America. That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole. That’s why Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade A, Colombian snow. He packs it in perfect lines on his coffee table and then takes a big whiff to smell the high quality aroma of the snow.”
- The description of the sweater has been updated and the sweater was removed and shows as “SOLD OUT” on their Fun.com site, which is the company selling the item.
- The Colombian government and the National Agency for the Legal Defense have threatened to sue Walmart and said the mega retailer owes them monetary damages. They are suing due to indemnify damage that Colombia received.
- Respectfully, Walmart did apologize and issued a email statement saying, “These sweaters do not represent Walmart values and have no place on our website. However, this isn’t the first apology that Walmart has had to issue. If you remember Walmart had to issue a apology back in 2017, due to an offensive slur that was used online by a third party seller on their U.K. website. In the color section of the listed product, the color of the item was listed as, “n—-r brown.”
We hope that moving forward that all products will not only support their core values but also be reviewed in detailed to avoid the backlash that they are receiving.
