Walmart Canada has pulled women’s T-shirts after receiving criticism that the product descriptions on its website were sexist.
The shirts, which were created by the Arizona-based company Sauce Hockey, were listed on Walmart’s website with derogatory descriptions about women.
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One description, flagged by Facebook user Laura Elizabeth, describes an intern who has “dated half the hockey team” and is known inside the locker room.
Another shirt titled “Stage 5 Clinger Tee” depicts a woman who is clingy after a casual sexual encounter, and reads she’s “high risk, low reward.”
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In a statement to Global News, Walmart Canada explained the shirts have now been removed and were on the website via a “third-party vendor.”
“The descriptions accompanying these tees do not represent Walmart’s values and have no place on the Walmart.ca site,” the statement read.
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“We have immediately removed the products and are working with the seller to address the descriptions. We sincerely apologize for any unintended offence this has caused our Canadian customers.”
Daryl Jones, who is an investor in Sauce Hockey, told Global News that the company regrets the descriptions. Jones added that the shirts and descriptions were created in 2011, before the company’s current management was in place.
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“Until receiving notification a few days ago, I wasn’t even aware they existed,” he said.
“Those descriptions are both offensive and sexist and certainly not descriptions that would be associated with any of our products today.”
Jones apologized for the products, noting they were created before he was involved with the company.
“Personally, I have a daughter that plays hockey and many female friends that have played collegiate, professional or Olympic hockey and this is certainly not representative of the hockey culture that either me personally, or Sauce as a company, supports and respects.”
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Sauce Hockey has not sold the T-shirts on its own website for at least six years, Jones said. But the company is now making sure they are not sold anywhere else, either.
It has contacted Amazon, which still has some of the T-shirts on sale.
One such description posted on Amazon reads: “Every team seems to have that one girl who works her way thru the entire roster. She’s super into you at first, but when things go sour, she ends up with your teammate via the waiver wire. Before you know it she’s thru the four forward lines and half way thru the top D pair and it’s only November…”
Global News has reached out to Amazon to see if they will be taking action.
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