Letter from Wal-Mart
I got an email from a Wal-Mart public relations firm regarding the Nazi T-Shirts:
James,
Good morning. My name is Marshall Manson. I work for Edelman doing online public affairs for Wal-Mart. I noticed your post about the t-shirts that Wal-Mart is selling. I wanted to make sure you saw the company’s statement about this and knew that Wal-Mart is now removing the t-shirts from its stores. Obviously, with a company as big as Wal-Mart, that may take a day or two.
The statement is just below. If you would like to discuss anything, feel free to respond to this e-mail.
Statement from Wal-Mart:
We were not aware of the origins of the image until this morning when we learned about it through the blog Bent Corner.
We are deeply sorry that this happened, and we are in the process of pulling all of these t-shirts from our stores.
Respect for the individual is a core value of our company and we would never have placed this t-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem.
We are reviewing our product review process in an effort to ensure this never happens again.
Sincerely,
Marshall Manson
Edelman
email removed
Pussies.
I think it was a good thing that Bent Corner exposed it.
Imagine how much it would have cost Wal-Mart later on if someone was violently offended by the shirt itself and sued “for emotional distress” or some other silly reason.
Point is, it really would’ve been hard for a Wal-Mart buyer to have known the source of the image. I’d say whoever manufactured the shirt (and whoever designed it) is ultimately responsible.
Regardless, you can tell they took it pretty seriously.. so they should be in the clear about it.
Interesting question: doesn’t this make those shirts worth a bit more now? I mean, they should be fairly rare now. Right?
That’s what I was thinking Dustin. Need to head over to Wal-Mart at lunch and buy some collector’s items. I don’t fault Wal-Mart at all for what happened. It’s a pretty obscure graphic and they seem to be doing everything they can to take care of it.
Another funny oddity. Check out the AdSense Ads on this page. For some reason Google has locked this stuff into “Christian T-Shirts”.
Funny.
[...] Update: Wal-Mart has acknowledged the problem and is removing the shirts from their store. [...]
I bought one a couple of hours ago and they had about ten more left - $7.83
Joel who makes them? is there a website?
ha Ha, wal mart stock fell after democrats took power!!
YES
The letter you got is a mass form letter Marshall Manson from Edelman has been sending to anyone with a blog who posted about Wal-Mart selling Nazi attire. I received one myself. Marshall Manson also asked me if I would mind posting a follow-up to my post stating that Wal-Mart had taken care of the problem.
I stopped by Wal-Mart after work. They were still selling the shirts.
Which is fine. If they want to sell Nazi stuff, they should go right ahead. It’s just that they make a big stink about only selling censored music and refusing to sell books like The Daily Show mock history book.
Wow. That is just so freaking hillarious! So much for sweat shops, lets boost it up a bit with some good’ol naziness. Ouch.
Wow, I got this same email from this guy on my blog when I posted this Wal-Mart shirt scandal…..Check out the post and see for yourself.
http://woosk.blogspot.com/2006/11/wal-mart-is-selling-nazi-ss-skull-t.html
So aparently they sent out a form letter saying they are pulling the shirts from the shelves, so we would think they are going to be valuable. Now they’re probably selling milliions of them!
You might not be far off, Marty.
http://jdallen.org/news/follow-up-on-the-nazi-t-shirts/
[...] According to Bent Corner, Wal-Mart still hasn’t removed the Nazi shirts from their stores. Yesterday afternoon I stopped at a Wal-Mart on my way home for work and found a stack of the same shirts still for sale in the men’s department. My wife also stopped at a different Wal-Mart on her way home from work yesterday. She too found a stack of these Nazi shirts still for sale. [...]
[...] Walmart has acknowledged their mistake with reply (via The Allen Almanac): We were not aware of the origins of the image until this morning when we learned about it through the blog Bent Corner. [...]
A bunch of the links on your site appear invalid. I think you should fix them.