Wal-Mart is at the center of a T-shirt controversy again, and this faux-pas might be its worst to date.
Wal-Mart’s online store features a collection of tees designed by third-party retailer Hollywood Thread, according to Mashable. One shirt, in particular, featured an especially inappropriate message that referenced drug use and prostitution, which you can see on Mashable.
It seems there’s a vetting process for these third-party retailers, but somehow, Wal-Mart’s trust and compliance team didn’t catch this one. However, once Mashable inquired about the T-shirt, Wal-Mart said it would pull it.
Wal-Mart released a statement concerning the shirt, according to Mashable:
This obviously has no business being on our site. It wasn’t sold by Wal-Mart directly, but by a third-party seller on our marketplace. It’s in clear violation of our policy. We apologize to anyone who was offended by the item and we’re removing it immediately.
Mashable found other Hollywood Threads shirts on Wal-Mart’s website that may be offensive to customers, but Wal-Mart has not commented on those shirts yet.
For those working in promotional products, it’s important to look over any third-party designs. If not, you could find yourself in Wal-Mart’s position—defending your company against something that wasn’t even your creation.
