Walmart was left apologizing this morning after a Jezebel article revealing a section of the retail giant’s website devoted to “Fat Girl Costumes.”
Although the first public complaint about the Fat Girls Costumes section appeared on Twitter on October 21st, it took until around 11:00 this morning for Walmart to delete the section and redirect all traffic to “Woman’s Plus Size Halloween Costumes.”
.@Walmart Not sure labeling these as “Fat Girl Costumes” is the best approach. #rude http://t.co/UbDq6BpArv pic.twitter.com/SE5BjOUPFs
— Kristyn Washburn (@ItsWithaY) October 21, 2014
How one of the biggest companies in the country could commit such an obvious faux pas is up for debate: Ad Week suggested it was an automatically generated category based on metadata, while Jezebel theorized it could be some web developer’s bad idea of a joke. So far the company hasn’t offered an official statement, but have begun replying with apologetic tweets to the many users who complained.
@AleciaHupperts We are working to remove it as soon as possible and ensure this never happens again. -Kinga
— Walmart (@Walmart) October 27, 2014
All the more reason to stick to thrift stores or do-it-yourself techniques when building your last-minute costumes.
