This put the "swear" in "sportswear."
Walmart recently took a certain T-shirt off its shelves after a customer pointed out that it unintentionally featured a very rude word.
This unintentionally controversial couture was brought to everyone's attention through a tweet, which has now garnered over 2.5 million views.
"I need this shirt before Walmart realizes what they have done. Find the hidden word," joked the original poster, sharing a picture of the green shirt causing the stir.
At first look, the T-shirt appears quite harmless.
The shirt was at an undisclosed Walmart outlet.
Twitter / @whosurdaddienow
It displays a standard pro-recycling message, with the letters "RE" prominently in upper case and the words "cycle," "use," "new," and "think" in lower case following.
But a more careful look reveals that the first letters of each word come together to inadvertently form the word "c–t."
Walmart acted swiftly to remove the inappropriately worded shirt from its shelves.
"This was not intentional, and the T-shirt has been removed," stated a spokesperson for the retail giant to Newsweek.
The shirt, produced by Walmart's own George fashion label, was apparently only sold in Canadian stores and was priced at $5.
Twitter / @whosurdaddienow
Although this eco-friendly item has been pulled from physical stores, it seems to still be available on Amazon and other places for about $20.
The incident has provided ample amusement on social media, with many making light of the oversight.
"Finally. The perfect shirt," laughed one social media user.
Another asked, "Where can I buy this now? Will they have it in the clearance section?"
Yet another inquired, "Did they trash the shirts or recycle them?"
Walmart has since pulled the T-shirt from shelves and claimed that the hidden word was not “intentional.”
Getty Images
One person remarked, "Who can’t appreciate a little charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent?"
"Laughed out loud when I spotted the hidden word. Now I want that tee shirt too. ;)," shared another.
"So THIS is why C U Next Tuesday was trending," observed someone else, hinting at the same unsavory word.
A few on social media even speculated that the message might have been an intentional subliminal swear.
"What’s the over/under that whoever designed that shirt knew exactly what they were doing?" one person speculated.
Twitter
Not everyone saw the funny side of the T-shirt controversy, though.
"Some people have really nothing better to do than look for issues where there is none," a user commented.
Another expressed frustration: "I wouldn’t have noticed at all, but now I can’t unsee it! Why not just put the words in a different order?"
This isn't the first instance of Walmart pulling merchandise due to offensive content.
In 2017, they removed a T-shirt from their online store that encouraged violence against journalists, after a news association called for its removal during a time of intense political and ideological strife, as reported.
