An Irish American is lobbying to remove offensive Irish t-shirts from Walmart's website.
In 2014, Kevin Westley bought all the t-shirts emblazoned with drunken Irish stereotypes he could find in his local Walmart, kept them in airtight containers in his garage and promptly returned them to the store on March 18th.
He successfully lobbied his local Walmart store to stop selling the t-shirts and now, he's taking on Walmart corporate for the offensive t-shirts the company is selling on their website.
Kevin posted the following on his Facebook page, calling on others to join him in his boycott:
"In 2016, 2017 and 2018 local Walmart stores did not sell any offensive stereotypical drinking T-shirts for St. Patrick’s Day. Unfortunately, the Walmart website is selling offensive drinking Irish stereotype shirts for 2018. I have called and tried to contact them through the website several times. Never get a reply.
All stereotypes are bad, regardless what group they demean. Think of the thousands of job or housing opportunities have been lost because of them. If you agree with me, please call Walmart corporate office on their toll-free line at 1-800-925-6278. Better yet, “contact” them at https://help.walmart.com/ and let them know what you think about these T-shirts".
In mid-February, Walmart told Kevin the t-shirts are against their policy and are in the process of being removed. However, they're still available to buy online and Walmart have stopped replying to him.
Dermot and Dave caught up with Kevin to find out more about his mission. Listen in full here.
