We All Scream For…Well, Never Mind
We often say things like, “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time”…but I’m not sure this ever was a good idea.
Walmart thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the latest national holiday, Juneteenth, declared as such last year by federal law. So to “share and celebrate African-American culture, emancipation and enduring hope,” the company decided to market a “celebration edition” of Great Value-brand Juneteenth ice cream, right down to trademarking the term Juneteenth.
The carton was decorated with red, green and gold stripes, along with cartoons of musical notes and hands—dark skinned, some holding two fingers aloft in the peace sign. Apparently the chain was also selling party plates with a similar theme.
This is about as tone deaf as when people say “Happy Memorial Day” without understanding anything about why there is a national holiday. And plenty of folks on Twitter let the company know they were not pleased.
The ice cream itself was red velvet-flavored. Apparently, the company didn’t think of watermelon-flavored…that would be in keeping with the offensive nature of the whole thing.
Recall that Juneteenth was established to mark when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform residents the Civil War was over and slavery had been abolished. Not sure party plates and opportunistically-marked special edition ice cream fits the spirit of the day.
The company says while Juneteenth marks a celebration of freedom and independence, they were reviewing their assortment of items and removing some as appropriate. And reporters who tried to purchase the ice cream at a Walmart in North Carolina…it was still in the freezer case…were told it was not available for purchase and was going to be thrown out.
Likely also to be “thrown out”…the executives who thought this was a good idea.
