Bath & Body Works apologizes for candle after alleged likeness to Ku Klux Klan hood stirs controversy
Retailer Bath & Body Works is apologizing and rushing to pull a holiday-themed candle from its shelves after online users highlighted its label being reminiscent of the white hoods synonymous with the Ku Klux Klan.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company, known for its personal care and home fragrance products, is apologizing to those it offended after the product label on its "Snowed In" candle mistakenly drew comparisons to White supremacist group, which formed after the Civil War.
The label features a close-up shot of a snowflake, highlighting the winter theme of the product, and is set with a maroon-like background. However, some social media users said that the snowflake looks like like several of the white conical shaped hoods the group wears with two holes in each, akin to holes for eyes.
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"At Bath & 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 Bath & Body Works spokesperson told Fox News Business. "We apologize to anyone we’ve offended and are swiftly working to have this item removed and are evaluating our process going forward."
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Some social media users referred to the candle as a "klandle" while others pondered how the label made its way onto shelves to begin with.
"This isn't just a branding mistake; it's a reminder of how sensitive cultural symbols can be," one X user asked. "Let’s hope they take this as a lesson in awareness and responsibility."
Others, however, complained about how easily people can become offended.
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"What this is a reminder of is how utterly ridiculous hyper-offended people can be and how they see ‘racism’ in absolutely everything. I miss the days when fools like that were laughed at and ignored," another X user wrote.
Bath & Body Works was funded in 1990 and became an independent public company in Aug. 2021. It currently has more than 1,850 company-operated Bath & Body Works locations in the U.S. and Canada, according to its website.
The company posted $7.4 billion in revenue in 2023.