In the aftermath of last week’s racially motivated Charleston shooting, Wal-Mart, Sears and eBay have decided that they will remove all Confederate flag merchandise from their stores and online third-party vendors.
Wal-Mart has previously carried Confederate flag apparel such as the flag itself, belt buckles and T-shirts, both online at walmart.com and in stores. Wal-Mart’s, Sear’s, and eBay’s decision to withdraw Confederate flag merchandise came in as a response to CNN inquiry.
“We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer,” Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick told CNN. “We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the Confederate flag from our assortment — whether in our stores or on our websites.”
Sears does not sell this merchandise in its stores, according to their spokesman Chris Brathwaite, but it does promise the removal from its online websites. eBay, solely an online retailer, has made the same promise as Sears.
eBay already has an existing ban on “offensive material policy.” This means that the online auction site’s bans the sales of items considered to “promote hatred or racial supremacy.” With this ban in mind, eBay just announced that they will also be stopping sales of Confederate merchandise on the basis that the flag is a “contemporary symbol of divisiveness and racism.”