Walmart Apologizes for "Fat Girl Costumes"

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It's great that Walmart offers Halloween costumes for bigger people, but why call them "Fat Girl Costumes"? As you can imagine, people didn't appreciate the label.

Walmart Costumes

Walmart has since changed the heading to "Women's Plus-Size Halloween Costumes." After almost a week of complaints, the company finally apologized:

"This never should have been on our site. It is unacceptable, and we apologize. We are working to remove it as soon as possible and ensure this never happens again."

Discussion Starters:

  • How could a mistake like this happen? Consider the functions of marketing and web design.
  • Assess Walmart's apology. How could it be improved?