Retailer Bath & Body Works is in hot water after releasing a candle with packaging that many felt evoked the Ku Klux Klan.
The candle, called "Snowed In," was a large three-wick candle meant to evoke winter vibes, with a label made to look like a paper cut-out snowflake.
But the snowflake's conical points each have two holes... which kind of look like eyeholes... which kind of makes the whole thing look like a glittering array of *gulp* KKK hoods.
The candle appeared on the retailer's website only briefly and was quickly pulled after a firestorm immediately erupted. The candle's design may have escaped Bath & Body Works' notice, but many people online immediately recognized the resemblance.
At first blush, the controversy may seem overwrought. But several people online posted side-by-side images of the candle and an actual Klansman in one of the group's instantly recognizable hoods and...well the resemblance really IS pretty uncanny.
It's a pretty arresting and shocking image, to be honest. The Klan, of course, is one of the country's "oldest and most infamous" hate groups, in the words of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist hate groups.
The group and its imagery are weighted with the kind of astonishingly cruel and macabre racist history that provokes a visceral reaction in pretty much anyone these days.
Bath & Body Works says the candle was simply a mistake. In a statement to CNN, the company said:
“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."
"We apologize to anyone we’ve offended and are swiftly working to have this item removed and are evaluating our process going forward.”
But given how uncanny the resemblance was, many online were left questioning how the candle ever made it to market.
But many others felt like the uproar was completely overwrought—especially accusations that Bath & Body Works made the mistake on purpose.
At the end of the day it's just a candle with a paper snowflake on the label. But it's hard not to feel like this is just the latest example of what tends to happen when your team isn't diverse enough that there's at least ONE person in the room to say, "hey, uh, that looks like a Klan hood."
Lesson learned?
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
