Walmart is apologizing again, this time for a third-party vendor’s product description that used the N-word.
On Monday, Twitter user @KwaniALunis tweeted, “Hey @Walmart what are you doing,” along with a screenshot of the brown netting weave cap.
Weave caps are used as a protective layer between a person’s hair and sewn-in extensions. On Walmart’s website, the color of the net cap was listed as “N—Brown.”
Hey @Walmart what are you doing? pic.twitter.com/ermxukU5BX
— Kwani Lunis (@KwaniALunis) July 17, 2017
Walmart removed the racial slur from the title, description and URL and listed the product as unavailable.
It has since been removed from the site completely.
“While we aim to provide accurate product information, it is provided by manufacturers, suppliers and others, and has not been verified by us,” a disclaimer provided below the product read.
— Kwani Lunis (@KwaniALunis) July 17, 2017
Update: The title was changed and the item is ‘no longer available’ ??♀️ pic.twitter.com/UqqnYBnzR7
— Kwani Lunis (@KwaniALunis) July 17, 2017
We agree this is appalling. pic.twitter.com/VFke71Deo9
— Walmart (@Walmart) July 17, 2017
Walmart issued a statement: “We are very sorry and appalled that this third-party seller listed their item with this description on our online marketplace. It is a clear violation of our policy and has been removed, and we are investigating the seller to determine how this could have happened.”
We’re wondering if it happened the same way “fat girl costumes” happened on the retail giant’s website in 2014.
Jezebel first reported that a reader, looking for a Halloween costume, was directed to the section for “fat girl costumes.”
.@Walmart Not sure labeling these as “Fat Girl Costumes” is the best approach. #rude http://t.co/UbDq6BpArv pic.twitter.com/SE5BjOUPFs
— Kristyn Washburn (@ItsWithaY) October 21, 2014
@ItsWithaY Your comments and suggestions are important to us and help make Walmart even better. Thank you. -Nao
— Walmart (@Walmart) October 21, 2014
The offending section was eventually removed and users searching “fat girl costumes” were directed to similar products… in the plus-sized section.
At the time, Jezebel noted some other Walmart gems, like “these racist American Indian parody outfits” (still on the site), a selection of “gypsy” costumes (still available) and fat Tinkerbell (no longer on the site). The description for the fluffy fairy read, “Tinkerbell really let herself go since she has been out of work for so many years!”
Really not that clever, guys.
Maybe Walmart needs to pay more attention to third-party vendor descriptions and take a hint from news sites and get a copy editor! It might not be a terrible idea to hire a few people to review copy before it gets posted to the website and seared in our brains forever.
Twitter user @nord2286 said it a bit more directly: “Maybe you should fire your QC people. Do you let your vendors post on your website without proofing it first? You guys are ridiculous.”
Maybe you should fire your QC people. Do you let your vendors post on your website without proofing it first? You guys are ridiculous.
— Michael Nord (@nord2286) July 17, 2017
