Walmart's 'Impeach 45' Apparel Pulled After Calls for Boycott
Walmart has pulled a controversial shirt and apparel set that carried the text "Impeach 45," after calls of boycott and harsh criticism have put pressure on the retail chain. Before the pull-out, however, a #BoycottWalmart hashtag has already trended on Twitter.
The shirts and other items that have phrases like "Impeach Trump" and "Impeach 45" were first outed by Ryan Fournier, known advocate of President Donald Trump. As soon as Fournier posted a screenshot of the item online, people has responded in outrage against the retail giant.
"Impeach 45" is a common shorthand for "Impeach Trump," considering that Trump is the 45th president of the U.S., as the International Business Times explained. The wearable quote did not amuse some of the Twitter users online at the time it went viral.
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".@walmartwhy are you selling Impeach 45 baby clothes on your website????? What kind of message are you trying to send?" Fournier asked in his post on Twitter on Tuesday, July 3, followed by a link to the item in question.
As of this writing, Walmart has pulled the item and that link now goes to a message that says "Sorry... The page you are looking for could not be found."
Walmart eventually got back to Fournier via Twitter, explaining that these apparel were submitted to the open marketplace by a third party seller, according to the Washington Post.
"We're removing these types of items pending review of our marketplace policies," Walmart said in their statement. The vendor in question was Old Glory Music & Entertainment, a business based in Connecticut.
"We carry over 10,000 politically inspired T-shirts dealing with all aspects of politics, from liberal to conservative thought," Glenn Morelli, the president of Old Glory, explained to Bloomberg. Found among its websites are political products that include "IMPEACH OBAMA" as well.
"We are an American company and we are proud to be American, and this is what we do: We sell t-shirts for a living," Morelli went on to say.
