Written by: Allison Corbett
With the holidays quickly approaching, lots of people are already looking for gifts for their loved ones. A popular destination that I and many other people go to is the candle and body care titan Bath and Body Works. When you go into one of their stores you expect beautiful designs and fragrant scents, not something that will make you do a double take and question if you should be shopping there.
As a retail store, Bath and Body Works is already displaying products that will bring you into the holiday spirit. With their winter and Christmas designs making their debut, there is something for everyone to love. I know I do. However, their recent reveal of a new scent has people outraged by the design associated with it. “Snowed In”, a new candle scent, has a design that has the public floored. What was supposed to be a paper snowflake instead looks like the hoods of the Klu Klux Klan- the oldest hate group in America.
With national news outlets covering the scandal, Bath and Body Works’s PR team immediately released a statement, apologizing and taking responsibility for the issue, stating; “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.”
To further remedy their mistake, Bath and Body Works issued an immediate removal of the product in all of their stores and the candle is now also unavailable on their website, “We apologize to anyone we’ve offended and are swiftly working to have this item removed and are evaluating our process going forward.”
Despite the apology, people are still questioning the integrity of the company, assuming the mistake was made as a result of lack of diversity within the brand. Going forward, all eyes will be on Bath and Body Works as they work to earn back the inclusive and diverse reputation they once had.