USA - Walmart Inc will stop keeping
personal care products designed for people of colour in locked
display cases, the retailer said, after the practice drew flak
online with many saying it suggested customers for these
products cannot be trusted.
"We have made the decision to discontinue placing
multicultural hair care and beauty products in locked cases,"
the company said in an email statement on Wednesday.
Walmart said the practice was in place in about a dozen of
its 4 700 stores in the United States and the cases were in
place to deter shoplifters from products such as electronics,
automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products.
The criticism of the retailer comes at a time when the
United States has been rocked by protests against racial
discrimination, following the killing of an unarmed black man,
George Floyd, on May 25.
The change in Walmart's policy was prompted by a June 8 CBS
News report that a Walmart customer
had complained of the practice being discriminatory against
people of colour, while visiting a store in the city of Denver.
"The multi-cultural hair care is all locked behind the
glass. That's so ridiculous," Lauren Epps, a black woman was
quoted as saying in the report.
Many companies have issued statements in support of the
black community, in addition to setting up funds to fight
systematic racism.
Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon has said the company, along with Walmart Foundation, will commit $100
million to create a new centre on racial equity.