Poppy Bilderbeck
Walmart was once forced to remove a t-shirt from its stores after shoppers spotted its pro-recycling message featured an unfortunate alternative word.
Trying to follow in Greta Thunberg's footsteps and raise some awareness on how to help save the environment, Walmart stores in Canada decided to release a nice green t-shirt for a bargain $5, with a thoughtful message emblazoned on its front.
The message reads: "Recycle, Reuse. Renew. Rethink."
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However, instead of the 're' being written out four times, the t-shirt design simply has it larger than the other text and located on the left, so it reads 're' and then 'cycle,' use’, ‘new’ and ‘think’ stacked on top of each other.
No problems so far, right? Wrong.
One eagle-eyed Twitter user couldn't help themselves pointing out if you read first letter of each of the stacked words - starting with the C for cycle and ending with the T for think, the t-shirt accidentally spells out a word which gives the t-shirt a much less wholesome meaning. If you've not got it yet, it spells out: C**T.
Posting a shot of the t-shirt on social media, the user joked: “I need this shirt before Walmart realises what they have done. Find the hidden word.”
Once you see it, it’s impossible to unsee, isn’t it?
That post soon went viral, with almost 20,000 likes and more than a thousand comments from shocked shoppers who couldn’t quite believe the item had made its way into stores without someone noticing the offensive word.
One person wrote: “The C word on full display.”
Another said: “I need this so that I can get a marker and circle the hidden word like a word search.”
While a third commented: “So THIS is why C U Next Tuesday was trending.”
Someone else questioned: “What's the over/under that whoever designed that shirt knew exactly what they were doing?”
“Wow, as someone that prints clothing for a living, I’m amazed this made it to the shop floor,” said one person. “They had to know surely?!”
While others suggested that the ‘someone will get fired’ over the design.
The accidentally super offensive t-shirt was eventually brought to the attention of Walmart, with the company later announcing it had removed the item from its stores.
In a statement to FOX, a spokesperson said: "The shirt was only sold at Walmart Canada locations and has been removed from stores.”
Despite being pulled from shelves at Walmart, a quick Google search reveals that plenty of online retailers are cashing in on the NSFW design with numerous options available - but all of which cost a fair bit more than the original five dollars.