Walmart recalls shirt after shoppers notice secret offensive message

Mississauga, Canada - Giant retailer Walmart was forced to remove a shirt from stores after customers noticed a hidden offensive message.

Walmart recently removed a pro-environmental shirt from all of its stores after customers found an offensive word hidden in the design.
Walmart recently removed a pro-environmental shirt from all of its stores after customers found an offensive word hidden in the design.  © Collage: IMAGO / Panthermedia & Screenshot / Amazon.com

On April 3, a Twitter user shared a picture of the shirt in question, which they spotted at their local store.

"I need this shirt before Walmart realizes what they have done," the user wrote.

"Find the hidden word," they added, challenging others to find the vulgar term hidden within the letters.

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The pro-environment shirt features the letters RE in large print on the left, with the words cycle, use, new, and think aligned to the right.

RE combined with each word spells out an environmental phrase, but if you take away the RE, the first letter of the words left spells out a pretty offensive term.

Other social media users certainly found it entertaining, with many even asking where they could find one of their own.

"Yeah. That's what you get when you cycle and use new think," one person commented.

As the online discourse continued, Walmart took swift action as they recalled the controversial shirt.

Walmart removes subtly lewd shirt from stores

While Walmart decided to discontinue the product, Amazon sells tons of variations of the same design.
While Walmart decided to discontinue the product, Amazon sells tons of variations of the same design.  © Screenshot / Amazon.com

According to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Walmart confirmed that the product has been pulled from stores.

The spokesperson claims the product "was only sold at Walmart Canada locations" but would not reveal how long it was sold for or what led to the decision to discontinue it.

Amazon, meanwhile, has added tons of variations of the shirt with the same design, concept, and offensive term to boot.

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Panthermedia & Screenshot / Amazon.com

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