Walmart Apologizes For Advertising Guns to Back to School Kids

It seems like Walmart got into some trouble after one of its stores displayed a very bizarre sign. That sign was supposed to advertise back-to-school items like backpacks, pens and notebooks. The problem was that under that sign there were some firearms and it made the scene look like an ad for violence in schools. This problem became viral on social media platforms after someone took a photo and posted it. On Wednesday, the company apologized for the very uninspired sign and promised to identify the exact store where this issue appeared.

Advertising guns as back-to-school items

The photo of that a customer took and posted on Twitter displayed a glass case full of firearms. Apart from the fact that displaying guns in a store is already wrong enough, above that case stood a sign which read “Own the school year like a hero”. The photo quickly began spreading all over the internet and all over social media websites, and caused a lot of reactions and criticism from many people who saw it. A lot of them immediately asked for an explanation from the company and wanted to know if it was indeed a mistake or if it was done on purpose.

It seems like the controversy reached a very high level and Walmart finally decided to answer on Wednesday. The company called what happened “truly horrible”. It also apologized for the mess someone in a certain store in the United States made. Moreover, a spokesperson for the company went public. He said that Walmart is not at all pleased with this situation and that a mistake like this can hurt the company’s reputation severely. According to him, a team is working to discover in what specific store it happened. Also, if there are other cases like this one.

Walmart apologizes

The spokesman also said that the company wants to make sure that this bizarre sign will be removed as soon as possible. On Wednesday, the spokesperson specified that the company had initially thought it had discovered the store. However, it turned out to be a mistake. It’s also interesting to note that this is not Walmart’s first wrong step. Especially when it comes to advertising. One striking example is that when the store sold a costume on the website. They advertised it as a “fat girl” costume.

Image source: flickr


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