Walmart (a Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Noteworthy Company) is selling “Impeach 45” and “Impeach Trump” baby and adult apparel for opponents of the controversial 45th president of the United States and conservatives are furious. In fact, many took to Twitter to voice their outrage.
Ryan Fournier, president of the student coalition behind President Donald Trump, tweeted on Wednesday:
Walmart has not been biased when it comes to selling incendiary, politically charged apparel. And this is not the first time Walmart has come under fire, and at least nobody’s life was threatened. In December 2016, Walmart stopped selling merchandise with the caption “Bulletproof Black Lives Matter” after the National Fraternal Order of Police, a police advocacy group, attacked Walmart for “profiting from racial division.” In November 2017, the company sold a shirt that read “Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED” before it was pulled from the site.
As the popularity of Fournier’s tweet increased, Trump supporters conveyed their outrage on the popular social media site. It’s interesting to see a hashtag like #AmericanPride in a gripe about Walmart considering last year’s 180-degree turn that allowed Chinese vendors from overseas to compete with Amazon’s online platform a move that is in direct opposition of Trump’s demanded exclusivity for the retail powerhouse to use American vendors only. So much for “Make America Great Again!”
Maurice Schweitzer, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, said the company should not be too concerned over the boycott, as there “aren’t good alternatives to Walmart” for many people.
“In today’s environment, there’s so many calls for boycotts,” Schweitzer said. “Boycotts rarely have long-lasting effects.”
