Walmart Apologizes for Racist Description
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Walmart blamed a seller for a racist description of a hair weaving net. The blurb included the "N-word" as an adjective with "brown" for the product color.
Walmart removed the description and issued an apology, shown here.
The seller, Jagazi in the United Kingdom, said someone was using its name to sell products on Walmart's website. Jagazi wrote a statement denying connection with the product but didn't mention the racial slur.
We woke up this morning to the news that someone has used our name, Jagazi, to list an item. Please beware that we are reporting this to as many people as we can and trying to get all the listings pulled down. The real Jagazi is a 100% black company for black people. People have often used our brand name to try and sell their products. Please be aware. Very sorry for all the distress this has caused. We are feeling the pain here as well. Most shocking!
An AOL article author criticizes Jagazi for "indicating some offense to the racial slur and much offense to someone selling fake Jagazi on Walmart's website." Do you agree or disagree?
Discussion:
- How does a mistake like this happen?
- How well did Walmart handle the apology? Should the company take more responsibility? Why or why not?
- Assess Jagazi's response. What, if anything, should Jagazi have done differently?
- The AOL article has a punctuation error. Can you find it?
