Maia Efrem October 14, 2014

Screenshot of Sears website

It was one thing when Spanish clothing giant Zara tried to explain away its children’s Holocaust shirt as an honest mistake, or when Walmart was selling a concentration camp poster as home decor. But now Sears finds itself in hot water over the very worst of these products.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The storied department store was selling a men’s silver swastika ring marketed to your average romantic punk rocker. The product was part of a gothic ring collection that “in particular features a Swastika ring that’s made of .925 Thai silver. Not for Neo Nazi or any Nazi implication. These jewelry items are going to make you look beautiful at your next dinner date.”

First of all, what self-respecting punk rocker shops at Sears for accessories? Second, is the men’s buyer for Sears blind?

Sears has been fielding a social media firestorm today, and responded to my tweet:

Sears issued a longer statement about the item: “Like many who have connected with our company, we are outraged that more than one of our independent third-party sellers posted offensive items on Sears Marketplace. We sincerely apologize that these items were posted to our site and want you to know that the ring was not posted by Sears, but by independent third-party vendors.”

I’m not convinced. Even if the ring was really posted by a third-party seller, how does a store like Sears not have oversight over its products? Same goes for Zara and Walmart, by the way.

Sears and Amazon have both removed the ring from their websites. But that’s pretty cold comfort at this point.

What’s next? Hitler posters at JC Penney?

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount