Earlier this week, the nation was in a tizzy over Walmart’s poor e-Commerce category management.
A Walmart customer discovered that the plus-sized women costume section of the site was renamed “Fat Girl Costumes,” a move that seemingly broke consumers into two categories: Those who weren’t offended, and those who were.
“We first heard about it this morning — our teams immediately engaged, we’re working to remove it as soon as possible and make sure it never happens again,” Walmart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said to Buzzfeed News. “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.”
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Although the Walmart team took swift action by redirecting visitors to the “Women’s Plus Size Halloween Costumes” section and responding to customers openly on social media, was it enough? The RTP team discusses the scandal and what impact it may have:
Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief: My immediate reaction is that someone made a huge error at Walmart. But after reading the comments from customers below the article I am rethinking my initial reaction. One person stated: “If only people cared more about important issues relating to this store, such as decent pay for it’s employees. They seemed to be quite quick to take this down, and very apologetic too… and it’s only over some plus size fancy dress clothing.” Others said that they were not offended – they actually thought it was funny. Nevertheless I think it was insensitive and inappropriate. This type of thing does affect how I feel about the brand, even though they may have been quick to apologize. The damage has been done.
Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor: It’s very interesting to me that a retail organization as large as Walmart still experiences these kinds of issues. Undoubtedly, with so many employees and divisions, things slip through the cracks. However, not taking the proper precautions to mitigate these risky situations obviously can have an impact. In my eyes, this isn’t an issue of someone saying something offensive and people getting offended. Rather, this is a cautionary tale for retailers that don’t keep a close eye on internal processes and don’t give responsibility to the right employees. Despite the problem at hand, I do commend Walmart for tackling the issue head-on, and responding to all forms of feedback – from customers as well as the media.
Rob Fee, Managing Editor: Another week, another apology from a retailer for offending the public. It seems Walmart’s quality control must come from the same place as Urban Outfitters’. This is getting tiresome, and despite the comments on the articles covering this gaffe, it is not funny and should offend. I appreciate that Walmart pulled the item down quickly and offered up an apology, and I expect that whoever was responsible for this will soon find themselves looking for a new job. A retailer as large as Walmart with a customer base that is incredibly diverse cannot afford offending any of those customers. Mistakes will happen, but Walmart acted quickly to rectify the situation. I’m sure it will place effective measures that prevent it from happening again.
Kim Zimmermann, Managing Editor: Unlike Urban Outfitters, this does seem to be an honest mistake, rather than an attempt to be provocative. It almost seems as if someone put the there as a placeholder until they came up with a real title, which in publishing you learn is never a good idea. It was not at all humorous, and I can’t condone it, but they did react quickly and appropriately, which is all you can do when you’ve made a big mistake.
Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor: I don’t know what the folks at Walmart expected when this line of costumes were first revealed. Unless you’re part of the “any publicity is good publicity camp,” nothing good can come from that. Obviously, there are specific sizes in place for a reason, but highlighting a certain subset of people with a term that is usually used in a negative connotation just ends up alienating people, intentional or not. Plainly put, the idea should have been shot down the second after somebody suggested it. I’m glad that they at least had an immediate reaction, but these apologies seem to happen way too often, even from large corporations that one would expect to know better.
Brian Anderson, Associate Editor: Although Walmart responded to the incident quickly, the incident should not have happened in the first place. The word “fat” comes with negative connotations; why would anyone consider it for the name of a section on their website. It’s gotten to the point where it seems like Walmart is testing the waters to see how far they can go without hurting overall revenue. A company as big as Walmart should know better.
