Published: October 12, 2007 09:49 pm         

Wal-Mart pulls ‘offensive’ T-shirt

LEWISBURG, WV — The director of an area domestic violence group said Wal-Mart’s decision to pull from its shelves an offensive T-shirt from its shelves that mocked the crime of stalking was “the right choice to make” and a “serious issue.”

The controversy involved a white, long-sleeved T-shirt with the phrase, “Some Call It Stalking. I Call It Love,” written in red on its front.

Gloria Martin, director of Lewisburg’s Family Refuge Center, became aware of the shirt last week after Nancy Hoffman of the West Virginia Sexual Assault Coalition sent a photo of the shirt to her in an e-mail.

An FRC staff member visited the Lewisburg Wal-Mart and found a display case with the shirt’s slogan, but no shirts were found behind its bin.

A Beckley stalking victim had called The Register-Herald to complain as well.

The Web site www.feministing.com featured the shirt and said that it was also being sold in North Carolina.

When Martin called the Lewisburg Wal-Mart manager to complain, she was told the shirts had already been pulled from the store.

In an e-mail to The Register-Herald on Thursday, Wal-Mart senior communications director Tara Raddohl confirmed the shirts had been removed from store shelves

Exactly what company manufactured the shirt was unclear, as was how many shirts were pulled nationwide.

“Stalking is a crime in all 50 states in the U.S.,” Martin said. “A majority of murder victims are first stalked. For us, it’s a really serious issue and we don’t see the humor.”

This isn’t the first time Wal-Mart has stopped selling a controversial T-shirt. In 2006, the store pulled a skull-and-crossbones shirt after complaints the image resembled a Nazi SS emblem from World War II.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@register-herald.com