Yesterday, Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party. While we'll have to wait until November to see if the U.S. will have its first female president, it's still a momentous occasion for women everywhere. However, Clinton's nomination has brought an old Wal-Mart T-shirt controversy back to the surface.
In 1995, Wal-Mart pulled T-shirts featuring the phrase, "Someday a woman will be president" from its shelves, according to The Telegraph. Wal-Mart defended the move by saying that certain shoppers deemed the shirts offensive.
Wal-Mart's decision disappointed the T-shirt designer, Amy Moliver Ruben. She reasoned that the prospect of having females in positions of power was still a "very threatening concept in [the U.S.]," in statements made in 1995, according to The Telegraph.
"[Wal-Mart is] in the position of being a censor," she added. "That's what I don't like. It's humorous and delightful. What could be threatening about that? Evidently, it is to them and their organization."
Women's groups responded to the T-shirts by threatening to boycott the company. Some purchasers even returned the shirts to Wal-Mart, prompting the company to apologize and pull the T-shirts. A company buyer claimed the T-shirt went against Wal-Mart's family values.
However, before Wal-Mart removed the shirts, they were selling very well. The Wal-Mart store selling the T-shirts had sold two-thirds of its inventory in about two weeks, and the store was planning on ordering 100 more before the consumer complaints.
Now, with Clinton's nomination yesterday, Wal-Mart's controversial move is making headlines yet again, leaving many people wondering how Wal-Mart could have pulled the shirts in the first place. If Wal-Mart wants to redeem itself, it might be time to bring the shirts back onto its shelves.
Hannah Abrams is the senior content editor for Promo Marketing. In her free time, she enjoys coming up with excuses to avoid exercise, visiting her hometown in Los Angeles and rallying for Leonardo DiCaprio to win his first second Academy Award.