Amazon pulls items, apparel that seem to endorse slavery

Amazon has pulled children’s clothing bearing the slogan “Slavery gets s--- done” from the U.S. and United Kingdom web sites after a barrage of criticism.

The online retail giant carried the products, which featured the phrase under an image of the Egyptian pyramids, from third-party sellers.

Thomson Reuters reported that while the slavery-themed designs were removed from Amazon’s U.K. website, bags donned with the slogan remained on its US website until Monday. But the bags have since been taken down.

Among the products that featured the slogan (with a picture of pyramids in the background) were t-shirts, mugs, baby bibs, tote bags, and jumpers, Fortune reported.

Amazon declined to comment when contacted by Fortune, referring all inquiries to its policy on offensive products. That policy prohibits “products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views.”

The clothing slogan drew outrage from anti-slavery groups and social media. According to the United Nations International Labour Organization, some 40 million people were living as slaves last year.

“If it is meant to be funny, it fails miserably,” Jakub Sobik of Charities Anti-Slavery International told Thomson Reuters in a telephone interview.

This story was originally published January 24, 2018 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Amazon pulls items, apparel that seem to endorse slavery."