Wrapping Paper With Swastika Pattern Recalled by Walgreens
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Courtesy: Cheryl Shapiro(NEW YORK) — Wrapping paper that contains a swastika pattern in the trim is being recalled from stores nationwide after an outraged California shopper noticed it.
Cheryl Shapiro and her grandson Eoin, 5 were shopping in a Walgreen’s store on Dec. 4 in Northridge, California, when she stopped to look at some rolls of gift wrap. As the former interior designer gazed at them, her eyes widened at a blue and silver roll, noticing the swastikas engraved in it design.
“It blew me away,” Shapiro told ABC News. “What the hell was that doing on there?”
The swastika, once an ancient symbol of good luck and prosperity in many cultures, is now virtually synonymous of the murderous Nazi regime that co-opted it.
“I said, ‘I want it out of the store, but I wanted this to go national. I want this out of the stores nationally,'” Shapiro told ABC News.
The manager removed the two rolls of the gift wrap from the rack and alerted the store’s corporate headquarters she said.
“We’re in the process of removing the product from our stores,” Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso told ABC News, adding that the company has initiated a process to prevent customers from purchasing the gift wrap at registers.
The paper, adorned with two shades of blue and a silver shade, carries a Hallmark licensing tag. Hallmark did not return calls to ABC News for comment.
“How could the paper go through quality control and not be seen?” Shapiro asked.
The wrapping paper is the latest item to be recalled because of cultural links to the Nazis or the Holocaust.
Zara, a Spanish clothing brand removed one of its T-shirt designs this summer after complaints flooded in that the striped shirt with a gold star resembled the uniforms that people were forced to wear in Nazi Germany to formally identify themselves as Jewish. The same company also came into controversy in 2007 when one of its handbag lines featured a symbol resembling a swastika.
Shapiro said she is impressed with how fast Walgreens responded to the issue, and that it has not ruined her holiday spirit.
“Not at all. We’re much bigger than that. It made us stronger,” she said.
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