Sears Helps Woo Your Date With a Swastika Ring
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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.
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?
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
