Chia Obama Pulled By Walgreens

Walgreens has pulled “Chia Obama” products off its shelves in Tampa and Chicago-area locations amidst outcry that they are racist. The product features a terra cotta likeness of the Commander in Chief on which one can grow mossy green plant-life on his head, reminiscent of an afro. It’s fun for whole families of Klan members.

A spokesman for Walgreens explains that store managers have the freedom to decide which products to carry in their individual stores, but company heads were not “not amused” by the decision of Chicago and Tampa store managers to carry the controversial product. We imagine those unamused heads were free of hair-like plant matter rendering them racially problematic caricatures. 

Of course, company heads don’t act until someone threatens to hit them where it hurts - their wallets. The spokesperson said action was taken after they received ”some complaints from people that they thought it was racist.” 

We know how we feel about the Obama Chia Pet, and the fact that it was being sold in racially diverse places like Tampa and Chicago makes us wonder about the motives of the store managers. But we can somehow fathom how someone might be oblivious to the racial implications of a Chia Pet made in the likeness of a black person and think it just a novelty item ideal for cashing in on a well-liked political figure. But, even so, how could this have been OK’d by so many people? Someone had to come up with the idea, pitch it, approve it, manufacture it, order it, ship it, display it and advertise it. It really took until the item was already on shelves for someone to issue a complaint? 

Hm. This is even more head-scratching than the Latina Ass Jelly debacle of ‘92.

What do you all think about the Obama Chia Pet?

Citing Racism, Walgreens Pulls ‘Chia Obama’ [Wired]