Walgreens Votes No on War Toys
By George Anderson
Walgreens is pulling Easter baskets containing war toys and soldiers from its shelves, reports USA Today.
Carol Hively, spokesperson, Walgreens said, “We reconsidered the appropriateness of having them in Easter baskets and considered the impending war and thought it would not be appropriate to sell baskets with soldiers or military men.”
The Easter baskets in question “include troops in battle dress, assault rifles, planes, tanks and other toys, along with traditional candies.”
Other retailers such as Wal-Mart and Kmart that carry similar Easter baskets to those being pulled at Walgreens have no plans to follow the drugstore’s lead.
Abigail Jacobs of Kmart told USA Today, “We’ve sold these for years and haven’t gotten any attention until this year.” She added, “We wouldn’t continue to sell action figures if they didn’t sell well.”
Moderator’s Comment: Should retailers selling Easter
baskets with war toys remove them from store shelves?
We do not see the connection between Easter, a religious
holiday, and action figures of combat troops. Personally speaking, we wouldn’t
buy an Easter basket containing war toys for a child.
Many others, evidently, do no share our opinion. Abigail
Jacobs of Kmart was right: retailers wouldn’t continue to sell them if consumers
weren’t buying.
Sell on. [George
Anderson – Moderator]