Retail giant Bath and Body Works is, if you’ll excuse a terrible pun, in hot water. Yesterday the company issued an immediate product recall and posted a rapidly written apology, after social media quickly spread an image of a product available in their stores that invokes racist imagery.
The ‘Snowed In’ soy wax candle, released for the winter season, was meant to depict a close-up of a paper snowflake on its outer glass packaging design. As alarmed shoppers and social media users were quick to point out, the design perhaps better resembles the white hoods synonymous with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The Ku Klux Klan is a white nationalist, far-right terrorist group that rose to prominence during the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War. The KKK is widely recognized as a hate group, specifically targeting African-Americans, Jewish people, and Catholics. The group’s three iterations – spawning during the era immediately following the abolition of slavery, the early civil rights movement, and the present day – have used murder, voter intimidation, rioting, and other violent acts as forms of terrorism.
The Southern Poverty Law Center defines the white pointed hood of a Klansman as a key symbol in conferring “the mystique that only added to the Klan’s infamy,” allowing the group to create an “invisible empire” that helped the Klan’s terrorism advance.
The resemblance is unmistakable – even down to the circular holes in the paper snowflake, perfectly placed to resemble the eye holes cut into the white pointed hoods worn and crafted by KKK members.
“At Bath and Body Works, we are committed to listening to our teams and customers, and committed to fixing any mistakes we make – even those that are unintentional like this one,” a spokesperson for the company told CNN. “We apologize to anyone we’ve offended and are swiftly working to have this item removed and are evaluating our process going forward.”
The candle is no longer available for purchase at Bath and Body Works stores or online, having been quickly pulled from shelves once the candle design drew widespread criticism. While the company has been quick to recall the product and erase its image from its website, others have been cashing in on the controversial design.
Third-party sellers on sites such as eBay have been offering the three-wick candle – with its original, Klansman-like design in tow – at inflated prices, with some retailing for up to $375 each. Some sellers, it seemed, bought in bulk before the product was fully taken off shelves.
“These will never be sold in stores so get them now! I have many to sell if interested in a bulk purchase,” one Facebook Marketplace seller wrote.