The clothing industry has pivoted to meet the demand for “ugly Christmas sweaters” over the last few years with increasingly garish designs sold by major retailers. That includes less traditional graphic prints, but in 2019 one of them went too far for some customers. At the time, Walmart sold a sweater with a picture of Santa Claus sitting in front of lines of cocaine, with the word “let it snow” printed below him.
The “let it snow” sweater was listed on the Walmart Canada website by a third-party seller called FUN Wear, and it caught a lot of attention before it was pulled from the site. It’s not clear if the sweater made it to any retail locations, but customers certainly lodged complaints about it. Walmart eventually offered an apology for the sweater and took it down, though that irked some customers as well. If the sweater was sold online only, some argued, it wasn’t completely out of line.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Just when everyone thought that Baby Yoda was going to dominate holiday sales this year, Walmart scores this brilliant last minute touchdown,” one person wrote. Another added: “I want the Christmas sweater from Walmart where Santa at the table with the coke. that’s the only one I’m wearing.”
“Was this apology necessary? Or a consequence of a needless taboo on recreational drug use?” wondered a third person. “Isn’t this sweater just part of free speech? What do you think?”
Some users even shared pictures proudly showing that they had bought the sweater before it left the store, or else sending each other links for other places where it was still for sale. Meanwhile, a few people railed against the product.
“WOW! SHAME ON YOU WAL MART!” one person tweeted. Another added: “EXCUSE ME WHAT, WALMART IS ADVERTISING COCAINE ON ITS CHRISTMAS SWEATERS.”
Those who liked the sweater thought this was a severe overreaction. A lot of the outrage stemmed from the product’s description, which was arguably even more suggestive than the sweater itself. it 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 issued an apology, along with another one from FUN Wear itself. “These sweaters, sold by a third-party seller on Walmart.ca, do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on our website,” it read, according to a report by The Washington Post. “We apologize for any unintended offence this may have caused.”
