So I'm at Wal Mart in Commerce City, CO looking for a gift for a friend and start rummaging through the T Shirt section not looking for anything in particular, just killing some time. Suddenly I notice this familiar looking skull peeking out at me. "Surely it can't be..." I think to myself. Oh, it is.... I grab it and pull it out; there it is in all its glory. It's like finding a piece of history. Nazi Wal Mart history.

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

So I took my wife over to the Wal*mart store in Chelmsford, MA for some cheap, low-quality Chinese goods, and as we were walking out I spotted the now infamous 3rd division Totenkopf logo high atop the men's clothing department's shelves. I walked over to the wall, and it appears that while they actually took the shirts off the shelves, the logo itself is still being proudly displayed among the other non-nazi designs. Talk about missing the point!

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I was down in Washington doing the tourist thing, this past weekend, May 18-21...

We were staying in the Fairfield Inn by Marriott off Old Ox blvd, and Pacific ave off Highway 28 just north of Dulles Airport.

Just north of our hotel was a walmart, in the Dulles Towne Center, checking through the clearance racks in the men's department, I found three of the Nazi T-shirts 2 XXL, and 1 XXXL all priced at $5.50. I grabbed the triple XL and went to the cash, At the cash of course the prohibit sale came up and the cashier would not sell me the shirt.

No one seemed too concerned about this shirt.

They are still out there.

Since Wal-Mart seems to have trouble finding these shirts, here's a map of where Don's was. — BEN POPKEN

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22 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 13 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they're still there. S.G.W. found some in Indianapolis, took a video, and writes:

I went to walmart to buy some shirts for work then looked at the t-shirts. Where I found the Nazi shirt. I tried to buy it, but the register do not sell. The lady wouldn't sell it. Then I came home, emailed Ben and then went back to take a pic. It wasn't very hard. Except they only had yesterdays newspaper. I then decided to switch the peel on tag and proceeded to purchase it with no problems. Also my Bulldog Chilly is Protesting and will not be shopping at Walmart.

Hey, here's an idea for another fun scavenger hunt. Try to find and send in pics of of recalled pet food still sitting on the shelves. Now that we've honed our finding skills, let's apply 'em to something that could actually save a life!

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Backstory.

— BEN POPKEN

Amanda's sister found a whole bunch in Ohio:

I had nearly forgotten about the whole thing when I received a call from my sister, Ali, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Apparently, they have a whole stack of the shirts! She described them very accurately on the phone, so I instructed her to buy a couple, and take lots of pictures.

She initially had some difficulty, but after flirting with the checkout guy, managed to purchase one.

Attached is a picture she took in the store, and a couple of pics of the shirt after she got it home. ...

Anyway, boo walmart, yay consumerist!

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Backstory.

— BEN POPKEN

We called 20 of the 25 stores where readers photographed the Nazi shirts. Five of the stores still had the shirts.

Those Walmarts are in Marrieta GA, Naperville, IL, Durham, NC, Ledgewood, NJ, and Cordova, TN.

Despite a letter from Congress and Walmart's firm vow to resolve the issue, the retailer evidently continues to have difficulty communicating policy from upper management to store managers to floor personnel.

Walmart PR people, here's what you do.

1) Get a big list out with every single Walmart's phone number.
2) Call up and ask for the Men's department. Identify the shirt and ask if you can get it in a large.
3) If the shirt is still there, speak to the manager and tell him to remove the shirt.
4) Wait a week.
5) Repeat steps 1-4 as many times as necessary.

It's easy. You could have some interns do it, really. Give it a shot. — BEN POPKEN

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(Photo: daberkman)

In a letter to Wal-Mart Chief Executive H. Lee Scott Jr., Schakowsky (D-Ill.) asked company officials to tell Congress what steps they are taking to remove the remaining shirts that display the Nazi Totenkopf—the "death head" emblem worn by soldiers in Adolf Hitler's personal guard—from store shelves. Twenty-one other lawmakers from both parties also signed the letter.

"Everyone agreed that these shirts have to go, including Wal-Mart; it's just that they didn't do anything about it," Schakowsky said. "Either at the time they really weren't serious, or their capacity to do that is limited, which makes one wonder about recalls of potentially dangerous products."

...Despite the corporate order, it appears the shirts were never removed from at least three dozen of Wal-Mart's 3,300 U.S. stores, according to Consumerist.com, which has been tracking discoveries of the shirts....

...Yet as recently as Thursday, bloggers at Consumerist.com were fielding reports from readers who said they had successfully purchased the shirts from Wal-Marts.

"The average blue-vest employee just isn't aware of it," said Consumerist.com editor Ben Popken, who explained that when bar codes failed, readers..."

... easily persuaded employees to scan similarly priced items, or did so themselves at self-checkout counters.

Popken says he also blames unconscientious fashion designers, who likely saw the emblem of death as just another in-vogue skull-and-crossbones design, with the added bonus of being a copyright-free image. "The skull-and-crossbones is popular," he said, "but designers need to be aware of the history of the iconography that they're appropriating ad hoc."

Consumerist readers, for the win. A great example of the power of blogs to make a difference. With our low overhead, we're able to stick with a story and follow it through to the bitter end, even after the AP and CNN wrote it off as a done deal. We collected reports from readers across the country, slowly compiling evidence of Walmart's unwillingness and/or inability to properly conduct a product recall. A hill source tells us that Walmart Watch, who reads The Consumerist, were the ones that tipped off Schakowsky's office.

Presumably after the issue reached a peak (we think mention of the issue in our recent article in the New York Times probably was the catalyst), they were able to point to our mountain of evidence and get Schakowsky, and the members of Congress who joined her, involved.

Way to go peoples. Looking forward to seeing how we can apply what we learned from this campaign to the next one. — BEN POPKEN

Wal-Mart under fire again for T-shirts with Nazi logo [Chicago Tribune]

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Backstory.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was not aware of the origins of the image when we stocked the t-shirt in question.

Respect for the individual is a core value of our company and we would never have placed this t-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem.

We immediately began pulling all t-shirts from the store shelves 11 weeks ago and have reached 99.5% compliance. Our records show that some 1100 shirts remain in the system, although we have issued a register restriction so the shirts cannot be purchased.

When we heard yesterday that some stores still had some of the shirts in inventory, we reissued the return-to-vendor directive. Our fashion merchandising team will reiterate the issue in their weekly video to stores.

If the records showed that the shirts were still in the system, then why were they allowed to remain on the shelves? Certainly not out of "respect for the individual." — BEN POPKEN

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"SCHAKOWSKY LETTER TO WAL-MART CEO: REMOVE SHIRTS WITH NAZI INSIGNIA FROM YOUR SHELVES

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky was today joined by a bi-partisan group of Members of Congress in sending a letter to Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott expressing concern over reports that t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia remain on the shelves of some of its retail outlet locations. In November, Wal-Mart committed to removing the product from its shelves, but reports this week suggested that the retailer had yet to meet that commitment."

Inside, the letter Rep. Schakowsky circulated to other members of the House and the letter to Walmart CEO Lee Scott...

The following members of Congress signed the letter: Corrine Brown (D-FL), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Dave Loebsack (D-IA), Charles A. Wilson, Jr. (D-OH), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY), Barney Frank (D-MA), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL).

Urge Wal-Mart to Remove Nazi Insignias from its Shelves

T-Shirts on a Wal-Mart Shelf Nazi SS 3rd Division Totenkopf Symbol

Dear Colleague:

Please join me in sending the attached letter to Wal-Mart President and CEO, H. Lee Scott, Jr., urging him to inform Congress about what steps he is currently taking and will take to ensure that T-shirts with this Nazi insignia are not sold in his stores.

An Associated Press report on November 13, 2006, indicated that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. had agreed to immediately remove T-shirts that display the insignia of Nazi Germany's 3rd SS Division Totenkopf from its shelves. A Wal-Mart spokesman acknowledged last year, "We would never have placed this T-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem." Unfortunately, reports suggest that the product remains on Wal-Mart shelves.

To add your name to this letter please contact [redacted]@mail.house.gov in my office.

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky
February 08, 2007

Mr. H. Lee Scott, Jr.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

Dear Mr. Scott:

We were pleased to learn from an Associated Press report on November 13, 2006, that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. had agreed to immediately remove T-shirts from its shelves that display the insignia of Nazi Germany's 3rd SS Division Totenkopf. As your spokesman David Tovar acknowledged last year, "We would never have placed this T-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem."

Unfortunately, reports this week suggest that the product remains on your retailer's shelves. We are gravely dismayed about Wal-Mart's inaction on its pledge to remove this product from its stores, and we ask that you take immediate steps to comply with last November's commitment to remove this offensive merchandise from your shelves.

The Holocaust was the most horrific human atrocity the world saw during the last century and perhaps in the history of the planet. However, genocide and hate remain amongst us today. It is critical that we remember the Nazis' crimes and take action to prevent future atrocities.

Therefore, we respectfully request that you inform us about the actions you are taking and will take to ensure that this type of product is not sold in your stores. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you within the next 30 days.

Sincerely,

###

— BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

This week, Hayden has a very interesting confrontation in Valdosta, GA. He tells a customer service manager, Rhonda, that the shirts were recalled due to the Nazi symbol. Rhonda takes them off, but then her manager, Tim, tells Rhonda to put them back on the shelf on as he hasn't received any email about them. Hayden calls corporate to complain, and within minutes Tim receives a letter from the President ordering him to remove the shirts.

...Jonathan takes the totenkuchen with a series of delightful portraits at a Walmart in Marietta, GA.

...and Associate Editor Meghann Marco embarrasses a Walmart store manager in Elgin, IL.

Their stories and pictures, inside...

Rob on 2/04/07 in Hamilton, NJ writes:

When I asked one of the workers about it - she folded up the shirt I had taken down, put it back and the shelf and said "Ok....ok...will look into it....."

Meghann on 2/05/07 in Elgin, IL writes:

meghannmarco: ok so
meghannmarco: The t-shirts were there
meghannmarco: and one of them was marked "RECALL CANT SELL"
meghannmarco: chris tried to buy it
benpopken: interesting
meghannmarco: the manager looked embarassed and wouldn't sell it
meghannmarco: she said "It must be something wrong with the material."
benpopken: certainly is
meghannmarco: And wouldn't make eye contact
meghannmarco: we have some camera phone pics
meghannmarco: Wal-Mart Store #1814 - 1001 North Randall Road - Elgin, IL 60123 - (847) 468-9600
meghannmarco: I can't believe they were actually marked recall

Hayden on 2/05/07 in Valdosta, GA writes:

So I went to WalMart tonight, Walmart #899 in Valdosta, GA.

Guess what I spotted in the men's t-shirt display? You guessed it.

This is how it went down:

I went to Customer Service with one of the lovely shirts in question and asked to speak to a manager. Rhonda, a 'CSM' (Customer Service Manager), approached me and I explained that Wal-Mart Corporate had promised to stop selling these t-shirts because they mistakenly used a Nazi symbol in the design, but somehow they remained on the shelves here. I accompanied her to the t-shirt rack where we collected all the shirts. We returned to Customer Service where we met Tim, one of the store Assistant Managers. I explained the situation and asked him to remove the shirts as promised. He disappeared for a few moments into the back office and then returned. He stated he had no email regarding these shirts and that they had not 'been recalled'. He then directed Rhonda to replace the shirts and asked me to direct any further to the Home Office at 1-800-Wal-Mart.

I immediately called 1-800-Wal-Mart and spoke with a Customer Relations representative (6 minute hold time), I explained the situation and she said she would forward it to upper management for future action and that I could expect a follow-up call in the next couple days. I was not satisfied though. I decided I would try to buy the shirts, knowing full well they would not ring up, and that Rhonda and then Tim would need to be summoned again. But I thought once they saw that they could not be sold, maybe then they would take them off the floor. I felt bad putting the check-out attendant and the people in line behind me in the middle of this, but finally after seeing 'No Sale Allowed', Rhonda called Tim, who relented and pulled the shirts off the shelf. About fifteen minutes later, Tim found me in the store and asked for my name and number. Someone at the Home Office at 1-800-Wal-Mart had contacted him and forwarded him a letter from the President of the company regarding the shirts. He apologized and said the shirts would not be put out again and that he needed my information for any follow-up that might be required.

I have included photos of the t-shirts on the shelf, one with me, and one with the CSM Rhonda putting the shirts back on the shelf after Tim, the Assistant Manager, said that the nazi logo shirts had not been 'recalled' and that he hadn't gotten any sort of message about them. Interestingly when Rhonda put them up, she put the paper display in sideways.

Jonathan on 2/06/07 in Marrieta, GA writes:

A few shots of the shirt found at a Wal-Mart in Marietta, GA. Also, one with a cat, and several of me holding the shirt, displaying the myriad of emotions that only a crazy rollercoaster of a Nazi t-shirt half-assed recall can bring. Enjoy!

Lykan on 2/07/07 in Phoenix, AZ writes:

Yo Ben went to Wal-mart today and while looking thru the shirts found the Nazi shirt. Thought I'd share it with you! This picture was taken 02/07/07. Later.

— BEN POPKEN

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Backstory.

Based on photographic evidence sent in by Consumerist readers over the past twelve weeks, here are some of the Walmarts experiencing training issues:

Phoenix, AZ
Santa Maria, CA
Lancaster, CA
Jacksonville, FL
Rome, GA
Americus, GA
Marietta, GA
Valdosta, GA
Columbus, IA
Elgin, IL
Naperville, IL
Durham, NC
Salem, NH
Hamilton, NJ
Piscataway, NJ
Ledgewood, NJ
Rochester, NY
Farlawn, OH
Cleveland Heights, OH
Shaumburg, PA
Cordova, TN
Lubbock, TX
Houston, TX
Neenah, WI

— BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

Please tell me those are not still on the shelves. I haven't received a call about them in a long time,

says Walmart spokesperson Marisa Bluestone in the article.

How can Walmart HQ claim to not know the shirts are still on the shelves? We've been running posts about them for twelve weeks. We know for a fact that Walmart actively monitors this site. Therefore, Walmart is lying.

Full scans of the article, inside...

Click to enlarge.

(Thanks to Rob!)

— BEN POPKEN

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Backstory.

Last week

We have a winner!

"Here we see demonstration cat show us how Wal-Mart has handled the Nazi shirt issue."

Congratulations, thereviewer! Please email tips at consumerist dot com from the email you signed up for comments under with your name and address. Your $25 gift card to Target will arrive shortly thereafter.

Runners Up
phrygian: When I work up my next hairball, I have the perfect shirt to vomit on.
shoegazer: Every time you masturbate... A kitten buys a Nazi T Shirt.
adamondi: Ich bin eine Todeskatze! (I am a death cat!)

— BEN POPKEN

We particularly enjoyed one entry by Thaddeus'. The plopped shirts arranged in triptych grant the scene the air of roguish insouciance we've come to know and love Walmart for. Well played.

As for the rest of you, please, step back from the shirts a bit when you take the pictures. Let's get some WIDE shots. You don't need to press the lens right up against the fabric. Trust us, it will look cooler.

This week's carnival of indifference, inside.

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Backstory.

Rob in Hobbs, NM writes on 1/27/07:

Found myself at Wal-Mart today, a rare enough occurrence, and came face-to-face with the bugger turning a corner!

Thaddeus in Naperville, IL writes on 1/27/07:

I was out at one of our local WalMarts with my brother. Knowing about the shirt, we decided to see if they had any. They did. As with previous individuals, we went to the self checkout. A "See Cashier for Assistance" came up on the screen.

The cashier was able to override the register, ringing it up as TSHIRTTT, and we were able to buy the shirt. They had at least five others.

Just for the record the only reason I bought it was because of all the hoop-la. Normally I have no use for a t-shirt, especially one with something on it, but I just had to buy this one just because I'm not supposed to be able to.

Fred in Jacksonville, FL writes on 1/28/07:

I wasn't planning on purchasing it but I took it to the counter anyway to see if it would ring up. Got the do not sell error, the lady just looked at me and said, "You can't buy it." I told her I was just checking and walked out. I was so surprised to find the shirt I forgot why I went in the store in the first place.

And now Virgin Megastore is getting in on the act. Kevin sent this on January 30th, spotted in Virgin Megastore in San Francisco, CA.

— BEN POPKEN

We're going to limit ourselves to weekly roundups from now on.

We rather enjoy Philip's above. Good direction. More wide angle shots. Let's see this shirt in action.

On a related note, if anyone got a shot of a cat sitting on a Walmart Nazi shirt, Meghann said she'll explode with love.

Five submissions this week, inside...

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

On 12/23/07, Philip in Neenah, WI, writes:

On 1/22/07, Tim in Cordova, TN writes:

On 1/21/07, Naval in Lubbock, TX writes:

On 1/19/07, NIck in Houston, TX writes:

On 1/15/07, Matthew in Rome, GA writes:

You would think these would be easier to get off the shelves than anime porn. They don't even have any tentacles that you need to pry. — BEN POPKEN

Patrick in Santa Maria, CA writes:

"I found the following Nazi shirt at the Santa Maria, CA store today (01/16/07 3PM) and it was most likely the only one as I glanced around and didn't see any others right way.. It was folded up. I didn't want to try buying it even though I know many others had a chance to do so I took a picture with my cell phone. I have been following this story for a while now and I didn't think I would find one. I was surprised that I did! "

The story has taken on a life of its own. Chuga chuga, choo, choo. — BEN POPKEN

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Jason in Columbus, Indiana writes:

"I stopped in my local Wal-Mart this morning in Columbus, Ind., and happened by the t-shirts to see if the Nazi skulls were still here. There were about 20 shirts still on the shelf. I didn't try to buy one, but thought of you and took a photo instead."

When the guy last week reported that he was able to buy a Totenkopf shirt by making the cashier scan a comparable shirt, we were worried. Were we encouraging what we tried to prevent?

Then we had an image of some guys at a bar, wearing these shirts. Whether they be neo-fascists or hipsters, the value of peoples going around saying, hey, check out my Nazi shirt I got at Walmart could be even greater than simply removing all the shirts. Money can't buy that kind of word of mouth. — BEN POPKEN

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Hacking Walmart to buy totenkopf shirts at a discount, signs of a true Consumerist reader. — BEN POPKEN

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Rising to three times the price tag points to genuine scarcity - Walmart's removing the shirt from the system is working - and genuine interest. Looking at the item history of several of the Totenkopf eBay bidders show they've bought Nazi paraphernalia in the past.

$30 is about the same change a cool designer tshirt sold by Beautiful/Decay will run you. On a related note, Matt points out that even the streetwear scene is getting in on the act, with a company called "Zoltar The Magnicient" releasing a totenkopf hoodie. A party they threw in Milan last year featured a neon totenkopf, an electric chair, and a guillotine.

Though, we're sure it's all meant to be tongue-in-Nazi-chic. — BEN POPKEN

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Backstory.

We particularly enjoy the Walmart cashier's expression. Probably seconds before she told John, "you can't take pictures in Walmart." John writes:

John's letter continues inside...

John continues:

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

— BEN POPKEN

He writes:

"It was at 6 am this morning (12/27), and I thought I'd pass it along. I thought about asking one of the employees, but I didn't want to bother these night-shift workers who already don't want to be there."

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Forty-one days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite promises to do so within days. Amanda spotted this one today in Farlawn, OH.

She writes:

Dear Walmart,
Why are you crushing so hard on Nazis?

Yours Truly,
Humanity.

— BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

He writes:

It's really pathetic that such a powerful retailer can't remove a simple shirt from all its shelves, especially after initially promising to do so in days. What if it poked your eyes out? — BEN POPKEN

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Backstory.

"Skull emblems are huge sellers these days, so Scott Deutsch had no problem placing 50,000 T-shirts emblazoned with a distinctive version of the gory symbol in Wal-Mart...

''We would never have done that shirt if we had known,'' said Deutsch, president of Miami-based Orange Clothing Company, a manufacturer of young men's apparel. ``Furthermore, I'm Jewish.'"

The article goes on to say that Deutch's company, Orange Clothing Co, found the skull in a "European trend book."

Just when you thought the story couldn't get any stranger, or longer, whammo.

The only question is, what to do with the returned shirts cramming Deutch's warehouses? Perhaps they can insulate his room, in hell. The hell for hack designers. — BEN POPKEN

Nazi shirt was an accident, Miami designer says [Miami Herald]

Papercutninja tried to buy one in Piscataway, NJ, and the register bleeped, "SALE NOT ALLOWED."

Huzzah! Good job Walmart, finally.

Now Walmart just needs to get cracking on throwing the rest of the shirts in the ovens. — BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
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He writes:

— BEN POPKEN

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"I found myself at walmart in Cleveland Heights Ohio the other day [Sunday, Nov 26] picking up a new office chair... (ended up going to office max anyway... but that's another story) I was kinda surprised to see the totenkopf shirts still on sale there... so I snapped a quick pic with my phone... sorry for the poor quality but the razr isnt anything great for taking photos. Anyway... thought you might like to know that Cleveland walmarts all seem to have ignored any instruction they may have received regarding taking the shirts off the shelves."

— BEN POPKEN

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Backstory.

Casey spotted some on Saturday, Nov 25, and writes:

"i understand you're a bit sick of covering this story, but i went to wal-mart today (ledgewood, nj) and they still have the neo-nazi shirt on display! i mean, this isn't some random small town, it's suburban new jersey. this is getting a little ridiculous, isn't it?"

How long will it take Walmart to take down the shirts? We don't know, how long ago was 1978? That might be an indicator. — BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

Above is a picture from a Lancaster, CA Walmart, taken last night. Here's one from Saturday, location unspecified.

In fact, we have yet to hear of a single Walmart that has actually stopped selling the shirts. — BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

The funny thing is that when I made that graphic I was referencing a biker logo and it was only brought up to me later that it was the SS skull.

For an artist who traffics so heavily in appropriating fascist symbolism and iconography, Shep Fairey might be well served by picking up a few history books.

As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." — BEN POPKEN

• Shep Fairey talks about "the politics of aesthetics."

• From Shep Fairey's OBEY manifesto: "The OBEY sticker.... has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker."

• A reader reports eBay pulled his Walmart Totenkopf shirt auctionfor being "Hateful or Discriminatory," no word on the thousands of other auctions of Nazi memorabilia.

• Day 6, shirt still on sale at Walmart.

• A conversation we had with graphic designer Daniel Edelman.

karlhungus: I can tell you want happened with those walmart t-shirts
karlhungus: speaking from experience
karlhungus: working on stuff like that
karlhungus: not nazi stuff
karlhungus: but the (former) popularity of the skull and crossbones type stuff
fakeout: alrighty, spill the beans
karlhungus: did I show you the look book and packages I did for that ralph lauren ivy cologne?
fakeout: yeah
fakeout: i remember there were some skullies in there
karlhungus: well what has to be understood is that alot of the imagery used by skull and bones and the underground secret society aesthetic comes from nazi imagery
karlhungus: because the real skull and bones has long time connections to the 3rd reich
karlhungus: and alot of iconography was translated, carried over
karlhungus: now smart people that we were
karlhungus: stopped from continuing with alot of really nice stuff because when you put it up on the wall on its own it looked like we were calling for racial purity
karlhungus: I could show you hundreds of designs that had that problem
karlhungus: where you are sitting at your computer, grabbing crap off the internet, making something cool and not really thinking about it
karlhungus: but like I said, we had the sense to stop and say "wait a second, hiel hitler"
karlhungus: but it would seem that their "design team" didn't have the piece of mind to think in the same way
fakeout: right
karlhungus: I think that its an amazing logo on its own, all things considered
karlhungus: and its that the average walmart shopper either wouldn't know it if they saw it, or would approve if they knew it
karlhungus: a couple of things happen
karlhungus: one, the link between skull and bones/secret society and the 3rd reich is deep seeded in idea and imagery
karlhungus: and two
karlhungus: you have to be an active filter for it as you work with it
karlhungus: and three
karlhungus: that whole look is over, unless you are ralph lauren and know how to make it look good over and over again
karlhungus: just look it up on google, and you could construct related design in an hour
fakeout: the other thing, SS imagery is royalty free
fakeout: we were thinking someone working from a flash tatoo book
karlhungus: no, you are exactly right
fakeout: there's other items in the "no boundaries" line that have tatoo imagery on them
karlhungus: thats a huge part of it
karlhungus: thats good, you hit a big nail on the head there
karlhungus: alot of ancient ritual text/imagery as well as stuff like that are outside of the realm of copy right
karlhungus: copyright
karlhungus: most of it you can buy in clip art books at the local barnes and noble
karlhungus: or find on internet sites that house high res scans of pages
karlhungus: so, they just clinched their butt-cheeks and hoped that no one would notice
fakeout: or no one had any idea
karlhungus: its both
karlhungus: god that was the most unpleasant project of my life
karlhungus: like, you need to stop every so often and work out what's acceptable and stop it from leaving the sketch stage
karlhungus: and those above simple images are just throwing together a couple of elements from "the bank" as it were, and so it can easily head south
karlhungus: or head hitler
karlhungus: and as I said, its just simple sketching, in five minutes a can create a new symbol for the nazi party

Maybe now that it's on CNN, Walmart will actually finally remove the shirts from their shelves. Yes, this is so important, we put two adverbs together. — BEN POPKEN

Recent updates to this story.
Backstory.

Looks like Walmart didn't just rip off the Nazis, they also ripped off artist Shep Fairey, known for his "OBEY GIANT" creations.

Both have the same skull. Shep's has, "Defiant Since '89". Walmart's says, "Since 1978."

Shirt was on sale at Obey's merch shop Karmaloop, though it's currently out of stock (google cache here). You can still get it through a few other distributors.

We venture that Walmart's ripoff is not just a photoshop of the OBEY design. Note the inset star on the Obey design. We posit that Walmart's designer researched a clean version of the Totenkopf skull and deliberately ignored that it was found in the "Copyright Free Nazi Imagery" section. While the mechanical process of Walmart's recreation is indeterminate, the inspiration is clear...

Special thanks to reader Schvitzatura for pointing this out, on four different posts, at 3:04 PM, 15 minutes after we emailed Walmart's PR firm again to ask when they were planning on removing these shirts from the sales floor.

A call to a NJ area Walmart confirmed the shirts were still for sale today, six days after they were first spotted and four days after Walmart's PR firm promised their removal.

For your convenience, here's a translation of what that German Obey:Giant tshirt site has to say about the "Obey Defiant Skull" shirt:

Shep Fairey and friends knew their shirt is naughty, but apparently, Walmart's designers didn't. — BEN POPKEN

Judging from a recent entry by a South Dakota blogger, four days after Walmart's PR firm promised the t-shirt's removal, tshirts bearing Nazi SS imagery could still be found on the retailer's shelves.

"Evil King Macrocranios," says he was approached by a Walmart employee after taking this picture. Initially, she asked the blogger and his wife to stop taking pictures but was cool with it after she learned they weren't eBay scammers.

When they told her about the image's Nazi origins, the employee reportedly found the shirt to not be that big a deal and was more bothered by shirts promoting the, "sexually promiscuous Smokey and the Bandit."

The Consumerist urges Walmart to hasten these shirts' removal so we can stop writing about them. Our readers will be grateful. — BEN POPKEN

I'm in UR Wal-Martz wearing UR Nazi shurts [Please Save Me Robots] (Thanks Philip!)

UPDATE: Here's someone who bought the shirt five days later.

SIDEBAR: The number 88 has been forever ruined. See this recent picture of New York Mayor Bloomberg, inside.

RELATED: Target Pulls '88' Clothing. [Tolerance]

We interview the blogger who first spotted the Nazi Walmart shirts, Rick Rottman. He discusses how he first saw the shirts, why he posted it about them, and what happened next.

By the end, you may never think about the number 88 the same way again.

Subscribe to The Consumerist podcast and get these delivered directly.

Transcript inside. — BEN POPKEN

CONSUMERIST: This is Consumerist dot com, and I'm Ben Popken. Last Thursday, Rick Rottman blogged about some strange t-shirts he found at Walmart. They had a grinning skull on them, an exact replica of the one used by an infamous Nazi SS brigade during World War two. Rick discusses how he first saw the shirts, why he posted about them, and what happened next. And by the end, you may never think about the number 88 the same way again.

CONSUMERIST: When did you first spot the Totekkpof tshirt at Walmart?

RICK: You know the thing is I thought I saw them a couple of weeks ago. We were walking through the store and I thought it was just my imagination, I was seeing it wrong. But then that Thursday I walked right through and I looked right at it and I couldn't believe it because it looked exactly like the death head logo that the Waffen SS used. It wasn't just a skull and crossbones, it had a very distinct look to it.

CONSUMERIST: Right. How were you yourself familiar with this particular logo?

RICK: You know afterwards I kinda wondered about that myself, well why is it that I can walk by this and immediately and identify it with the Nazi SS you know. I mean I'm not a I used to read a lot of history books, but I was kinda surprised that no one else noticed it, which I guess they didn't before I did.

CONSUMERIST: What were your thoughts when you saw it and what propelled you to post about it?

RICK: When I was standing there looking at it and I was thinking what in the world, how could Walmart let this happen? You would think that making sure that stuff with Nazi insignias or Nazi swag doesn't show up on their shelves would be kind of a priority, you know?And then I remembered my phone has a camera, I always forget my phone has a camera and I'll see something weird going and I'll be "I wish I had my camera" you know and I'm thinking my digital camera and then I always have the camera on my phone I think I've taken all of three pictures with it, you know, so I went ahead and posted this, I figured, why not, you know.

CONSUMERIST: After you posted it, what happened?

RICK: Oh, it was ridiculous. I mean, I posted it and then I thought, I'm gonna post a link to Digg. I generally have about 20 or 30 people who come and read my blog a day. The first day it was over 56,000.

CONSUMERIST: Wow.

RICK: Yeah yeah, I had to email my hosting provider, I think I did something here, and they emailed back, yeah, we'll go ahead and make a few changes, just let us know next time you're gonna post something to Digg.

CONSUMERIST: Yeah, just let us know next time you discover Nazi propaganda inside a major retailer.

RICK: I guess people just love good Walmart slash Nazi stories, you know.

CONSUMERIST: Perfect Venn diagram for the blogosphere. Sweet spot! Yes!

And so then you, like anyone else who has put up a mention, you received an outreach from Walmart.

RICK: I got kinda ticked off because when he sent me the email, I thought he was being genuine and the thing is, I should point out, I don't really, I didn't at the time really blame Walmart for this happening, I mean, mistakes happen, I guess I would rather judge anyone, a company, an entity, or a corporation, or just even an individual, okay they made a mistake, I think this is just a mistake, but how quickly did they respond to correct or try and rectify this mistake? And in Walmart's case they haven't even responded at all, to this. They posted the thing that they were going to be removing all the shirts but this is, Sunday, this is the fourth day after I posted about it and the shirts are still on the sales floor.

CONSUMERIST: Right. Due to the attention that has been brought to it, there are other demographics that this shirt is probably selling better to than it was before...

RICK: I found messages from people on Nazi message boads and people were talking about going to Walmart and getting two of them.

CONSUMERIST: Yeah, I was reading some of these messages and some of them are saying, and I'll do a quote here, this is from "JB" who says he's a "National Alliance Member," he says, "As the guy who started the blog about the shirts in the first place, he shoulda just STFU about it and now he is contributing to the very problem he got his panties in a knot over, he should've just shut up and minded his own business, and this thing would've went away quietly before anyone noticed. Now thanks to his," he uses a rude word, "we are now goose stepping over to Walmart to get our SS shirts."

RICK: Yeah, he was quoting me, I was ticked off and I said, yeah, now they're all goosetepping over to Walmart to get their Nazi schwag.

CONSUMERIST: So how do you feel when you see comments like this?

RICK: He's welcome to say, he has somewhat of a point hidden in there, I don't necessarily agree with it, if I see something wrong, or if anyone sees something wrong, I think they should be able to point it out but then you would expect whoever's responsible for it to take action and unfortunately, Walmart hasn't taken action.

There was a few years ago, Target was selling some clothes with the number eight eight on them, and apparently there's some kinda white supremacy group that uses that as like a kind a code. Because eight eight, H is the eight letter in the alphabet and so eight eight means Heil Hitler you know. Well, they removed all those shirts immediately or hats or whatever they were. And I thought that was kind of excessive, you know. I mean you really have to be reaching to make some kind of connection between eight eight and white supremacy, you know. When I see eight eight, I think Eric Linderos' number, jersey number, I don't think white supremacy or anything. But an exact replica of the Waffen death's head, that's a little too close for me.

CONSUMERIST: Right, and somehow that's not a priority for a different retailer to deal with. Well, great, um, I guess the last question is, you know, as of now, do you have any theories as to how this tshirt got made in the first place and passed through the channels? Because as we said, it's an exact replica. If you cut it out and paste right over the top of the shirt, it will fit exactly.

RICK: I think what had happened, I think for some reason, skulls are kinda popular among a certain, let's say young male fashion or something. I think the artist was hard pressed to come up with a skull and they came across one that they had never seen before, meaning one that no one else is putting it on a shirt and so they went ahead and put it on a shirt. Little did they know that most people weren't using it because it was worn by concentration camp guards.

CONSUMERIST: Oh man, it's a doozy. It's a doozy. Well, Rick, thanks so much for speaking with us today, pointing out this phenomenon, and we look forward to seeing what, if anything, Walmart ends up doing about it. See if Walmart decides to pull it off the shelves or be more proactive.

RICK: Yeah, "if" is definitely the word. If anything.

As a chaser of sorts to all this depressing Nationalist-Socialist tshirt business, here's a comedic sketch from the BBC's That Mitchell and Webb Look.

It centers around two officers in the 3rd SS Division Totenkopf coming to grips with the insignia on their hats. — BEN POPKEN

Three Walmart's Totenkopf shirts are now available on eBay.

The current bids are $.01.

Packaging is in view in the auction picture, showing that the Totenkopf shirts are part of Walmart's "No Boundaries" line. It's uncertain at this time whether "No Boundaries" is specific to Walmart.

Walmart's No Boundaries collection, or "NoBo," represents the retailer's attempt to bring a streety, pop-punk, aesthetic into its apparel offerings.

Other NoBo items feature winged hearts, crests of arms, and slogans like, "Look at me now, have dreams about me later" (with the letters REOSL off-set in red to spell "Loser.")

Walmart's website shows 11 other NoBo items with skulls, though none feature the Totenkopf.

There's even a NoBo Geometric Comforter Set. — BEN POPKEN

This t-shirt kerfuffle isn't the first time Walmart has been accused of flirting with fascism, Adfreak points out.

In 2004: Walmart was smacked by Anti-Defamation League for selling the anti-Semitic text The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. And in 2005: Walmart funded a group that used a picture of a 1933 Nazi book burning to protest measures restricting big-box retailers.

And now one for '06. Walmart's yearly Nationalist-Socialist constitutional.

Speaking of dates, reader Daniel says:

"Soldiers of Destruction: The SS Death's Head Division, 1933-1945 by Charles W. Sydnor, Jr. has a publication date of 1977 - but I believe it was only available beginning in 1978"

While interesting to toss around conspiracy theories, we still stick with the hack designer trying to make an "authentic," "retro," t-shirt. He just may have no idea how authentically retro it ended up being.

A retailer as large as Walmart is bound to sell Nazi merchandise every so often. You know what they say, a million monkeys at a million sewing machines will eventually sew together a Mein Kampf quilt. — BEN POPKEN

Warning: baseless conjecture ahead. One of our readers is trying to track down who made Walmart's Nazi skull t-shirt.

Muckraker: I have reason to believe that the shirt comes from a tattoo flash catalog.
Muckraker: flash is what they refer to as pre-made logos that people choose from when they pick out a tattoo
Muckraker: But I have no corroborating evidence except that it's a popular tattoo
Muckraker: for neo-nazi's...
Muckraker: but is quite likely popular enough that it's distributed...
Muckraker: It's quite likely it's local to Arkansas

Arkansas? That's interesting, Walmart's HQ is in Bentonville, AR. Who says Walmart destroys local economies? — BEN POPKEN

Walmart removed your favorite Totenkopf shirt before you had a chance to buy it? Don't despair, there's plenty of neo-Nazi apparel sites around the web ready and willing to sell you a reasonable facsimile.

PzG
Militaria-net
Micetrap Distribution, LLC

So not only was the t-shirt extremely tasteless, it was also a ripoff. Man, the Nazis are gonna be so mad when they found out. — BEN POPKEN

After a blogger found Walmart sold tshirts with Nazi skulls on them, a Walmart PR rep sent us a note.

"Meghann:

Good morning. My name is Marshall Manson. I work for Edelman doing online public affairs for Wal-Mart. I noticed your post about the t-shirts that Wal-Mart is selling. I wanted to make sure you saw the company's statement about this and knew that Wal-Mart is now removing the t-shirts from its stores. Obviously, with a company as big as Wal-Mart, that may take a day or two.

The statement is just below. If you would like to discuss anything, feel free to respond to this e-mail.

Statement from Wal-Mart:

We were not aware of the origins of the image until this morning when we learned about it through the blog Bent Corner.

We are deeply sorry that this happened, and we are in the process of pulling all of these t-shirts from our stores.

Respect for the individual is a core value of our company and we would never have placed this t-shirt on our shelves had we known the origin and significance of this emblem.

We are reviewing our product review process in an effort to ensure this never happens again.

Sincerely,

Marshall Manson
Edelman"

Someone needs to go and buy one of these shirts, quick. Just one question, is Mike Krempasky a medium or a large? — BEN POPKEN

Related:
• Walmart's Nazi Past
• Who Designed Walmart's Nazi T-shirt?
• Walmart Nazi Shirts Available Online (Sorta)
• Walmart's Nazi Tshirt, Compare and Contrast
• Walmart Sells Nazi Skull Tshirt