Bath and Body Works is apologizing for selling a candle with packaging that some people said looked like Ku Klux Klan hoods.
The 3-wick candle was called “Snowed In” and briefly appeared on the company’s website for purchase. It was quickly pulled off of the website once the issue was brought to Bath and Body Works attention.
The image on the packaging was supposed to convey a snowflake cut out of paper. The outer edges of the snowflake are white and cone shaped, with two holes cut out near the centre.
“I have never seen a snowflake that looks like that,” one Instagram user commented.
“This wasn’t an accident,” said another.
But others felt differently.
“It’s just a poorly executed design – that shouldn’t have been approved,” one Instagram user countered.
“This is a paper snowflake. I would not have looked at that and thought it was a racist candle,” said another.
A Bath and Body Works spokesperson said in a statement on Monday that the mistake was unintentional, and that the company is committed to fixing it.
“We apologize to anyone we’ve offended and are swiftly working to have this item removed and are evaluating our process going forward,” the spokesperson said.