Amazon has been lambasted by social media users after the n-word was used in the description of a product on its website. A pair of leather Florence Shakespeare brogues was available in several colours, one of which was described as "n***er brown". It seems that the news was first reported by British politician David Lammy, a member of the Labour Party, who urged the company to take down the advertisement.
However, other social media users were less restrained in their reactions.
Amazon cancelled asf
— Kid Infamous (@thekidinfamous) August 3, 2020
My love affair with @AmazonUK is done.
— Louise Freddy (@LFredz) August 3, 2020
Some people were so shocked by the offensive description that they initially believed that the report was fake news.
Is this actually real??
— DJ SPOONY (@DJSpoony) August 4, 2020
Many called on the company to sack the employees responsible for overseeing the descriptions of products and wondered why a person would use an insulting word to describe a colour.
That is absolutely appauling. The People who described the product and allowed that to go live should be sacked.
— Roylester (@KathrynRoyle) August 3, 2020
This is pretty sad. Only the n word could describe this color?
— Jax, JB, Jack (@Leonardoslady) August 3, 2020
Other users said that Amazon doesn’t care what products appear on the website as long as they bring in money.
Anything to make more money 💰
— Noah (@Noah32024473) August 3, 2020
They either don’t vet what gets put on their site or they just don’t care. I’m guessing the latter
— 🏳️🌈🇱🇨HngryWlf (@HowlingAtMoons) August 3, 2020
Still others suspected that the issue was the result of a bad translation and defended Amazon by saying that the individual seller should be blamed, not the company.
Most likely a translation/misunderstanding issue from the seller which is a Chinese company
— Rascal🇭🇰 (@tom_Quixote9) August 3, 2020
People blaming Amazon for an individual seller. Amazon will remove it once they see it.
— Autonomous Stan 🦖 (@ZinniaGold) August 3, 2020
The advertisement was removed from Amazon’s website shortly after the news was reported. However, British politician David Lammy was not satisfied and asked the company about the systems it uses to prevent offensive content from appearing on the website.
Thank you @amazon for taking this down now but given the item has been on sale since March what systems do you have in place for reviewing descriptions and not allowing offensive terms to be posted in the first place? This is not the first time.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 3, 2020
This is not the first time that Amazon has found itself in hot water. The founder of the e-commerce giant, Jeff Bezos, once said that the company would sell "the good, the bad and the ugly". In 2010, the company almost found itself subject to a public boycott after it refused to take down a self-published book titled Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure, saying that taking the book off the website would mean the company is censoring products.
In recent years, Amazon has been accused of selling neo-Nazi books and books promoting white supremacy, including one penned by an ex-leader of the Ku Klux Klan. This year, the company gave in to criticism and removed certain controversial books from its website. However, one can still buy books like SS Leadership Guide on Amazon.
