Walmart removes Christmas sweater featuring "cocaine Santa" from its website

Walmart has found itself the subject of a controversy as its Canadian e-commerce site offered a holiday sweater featuring a Santa Claus, a pile of white powder and caption “let it snow.”

The retail giant removed the questionable merchandise from its website after it received a plethora of complaints, but not before images where shared on social media.

The sweater, which depicts a Santa Claus seated in front of three white lines and a pile of white powder bore the tagline “let it snow.” To alleviate any doubt as to the “powder” in question, the product description read:

“We all know how snow works. It’s white, powdery and the best snow comes straight from South America. That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole. That’s why Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade A, Colombian snow.”

Walmart apology

Walmart later issued an apology, and said in a statement: “These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website. We apologize for any unintended offence this may have caused.”

The cocaine santa sweater isn’t the only item removed by Walmart as other holiday sweaters depicted Mr and Mrs Claus in compromising positions, including “Santa has been naughty,” featuring Mrs. Claus in lingerie and holding a whip to a bare-bottomed Santa.

Walmart has faced similar issues before, reported the Washington Post, including last year when President Trump supporters called for a boycott over a T-shirt sold on Walmart’s American marketplace. The shirt bore the words “Impeach 45,” a reference to Trump, the 45th president of the United States.

“We’re removing these types of items pending review of our marketplace policies,” Walmart said in a statement at the time.

On Tuesday, after Walmart removed the sweater from its website, the nation of Colombia stated: “The Walmart sweater is an offense to the country. It generates damage to the legal products of Colombia and damage to the country’s reputation,” as reported by the Washington Post.

El Tiempo, a Colombian news outlet, said the country’s National Agency of Legal Defense of the State (Andje) is responding by litigation and will take legal action against the retailer for its faux pas.

Image Walmart Canada cache via Metro