




Hallmark pulls Hanukkah gift wrap after swastika complaint

A California woman saw swastikas in a Hallmark gift wrap at Walgreen’s last week and her complaints led the drug store to remove the holiday wrapping paper and Hallmark to stop selling it.

But is it swastikas? And does that nuance even matter if they look like them?

Hallmark says the blue and silver intersecting pattern is based on an old Chinese vase.

Cheryl Shapiro, a former interior designer, saw something else entirely while shopping at the Walgreen’s in Northridge Dec. 4.


“It blew me away,” she told ABC News. “What the hell was that doing on there?”

Swastikas, once symbols of good luck and prosperity in some cultures, are now associated with Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust. So Shapiro’s complaint caused the manager at that Walgreen’s to remove the two rolls of wrapping paper bearing the symbol and contact corporate headquarters, which followed suit nationally.

Hallmark apologized in the Kansas City Star, the major metro of the city in which it’s based.

Said Hallmark spokeswoman Julie Elliott: “We apologize for the oversight and apologize to anyone who was offended. That obviously was not our intent. It was an oversight on our part to not notice the intersecting lines that could be seen as a swastika pattern.”


She said Hallmark licensed the design in several colors, and it was not intended to be gift wrap for Hanukkah but that it appeared as such at the Walgreen’s store in question because of its blue and silver colors.

Reaction to the removal ranged from Mazel tov to much ado about nothing.

Consider these comments from the ABC News story, where criticism of the complaint outweighed criticism of the symbol.

1911MEUSOC: Wow.... Really lady? This is how you spend your day? I can “see” a swastika if I look hard enough... But I also see a cross too....or maybe its just wrapping paper...... Much ado over nothing...... Attention seeker that’s all...


nycguy: ....and I see the murder of Jesus Christ everytime I come across the letter “T” what???.....

Bill Halm: so the ‘T” has to be aken from the alphabe. Ha will be ough

Beyond Basic Thought: Nothing? Know your history or you shall be doomed to repeat it. No matter how large or small the reminder.

Publius2k: In my opinion this is not about forgetting history. Unless Ms. Shapiro can show an actual link between the paper manufacturer and Nazism this is about seeing images in the clouds and being overly PC.


Sam Friedman: Being a Jew, I straight up don’t give a crap. I don’t think Hallmark is trying to weed out Jews with lines that happen to connect in a way that can be seen as a swastika. Anyone who finds this offensive is just trying to find something to get their five minutes of fame.

katia: I think it depends on your age - I clearly see it but I imagine younger people wouldn’t notice it. Some older people associate the symbol with pure evil and can pick it out easily...and I’m Christian.