TikToker Accuses Walmart Of Being Racist For Putting Security Tags Only On Darker Shades Of Makeup, Some People Suggest Other Explanations
Racism continues to be an issue in our society even today. We hear on the news and social media of the unfair treatment towards people of color and horrible things they have to experience just because they are who they are. And you would like to think that huge corporations like Walmart would treat their customers equally.
There are signs that this isn’t the case. TikToker @alynicoletta went to her local Walmart in Ketucky and, while browsing through the makeup section, saw that concealers in darker shades had security tags on them while the lighter ones didn’t, and she called this racial discrimination.
More info: Twitter
A TikTok user noticed that at her local Walmart, dark concealers had security tags on them and the lighter shades didn’t
Image credits: alynicoletta
The woman went to her local Walmart in Kentucky and noticed something unusual. In the 21-second-long video, the TikToker shares that while looking at the concealers she noticed that the lighter shades are just simply hung, but the darker colors have security tags on them and she proceeds to show the shelf.
Image credits: alynicoletta
The video was shared on Sunday, February 28, and as of Monday, March 1, it had more than 900,000 views. The TikTok video was since deleted, as well as the TikTok account, but people were quick to react and reposted it. One of the reposts by the Twitter user @davenewworld_2 was viewed more than 300k times and racked up more than 4,800 likes and nearly 2,000 retweets.
It isn’t the first time Walmart has been accused of discriminating against their African-American customers
Image credits: WakerOfWind
This isn’t the first time Walmart has been accused of racism. They recently changed their policy and stopped locking up hair care products aimed at African-American customers when they were accused of this being a form of racial discrimination. Before that, if a person wanted to access specifically African-American beauty care products, they had to wait for a Walmart employee to unlock the cases.
The TikToker concludes that putting security tags specifically on darker shades is racist
Image credits: alynicoletta
The woman ended the video by remaking a TikTok video trend where people ask “Tell me you’re X without actually telling me you’re X” into “Walmart, tell me that you’re racist without actually telling me you’re racist.”
Racist Walmart in Kentucky puts security tags on just the darker shades of makeup pic.twitter.com/gMn7qCylZw
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) March 1, 2021
Image credits: alynicoletta
People in the comments under the tweet had conflicting opinions. The people who didn’t think that this was racism said that stores put security tags on products that get stolen most often. So they argued this was reasonable, because the store just wanted to prevent theft. Others didn’t believe that dark concealers were stolen more often than other products, like meat, razors, and baby formula, which aren’t protected, and believed that the store decided to put security tags based on prejudice.
People on Twitter shared their reactions to the video and not all of them agreed that Walmart is being racist
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This is strictly data-driven. They put it on the products that are most often stolen. Similarly, they lock up the video games but not the board games, but nobody is pushing "digital discrimination!!!" outrage. If you want to actually be helpful, make the observation and start a discussion about WHY the darker shades are stolen more often.
Agreed. A $20 wrench that I needed to buy was in a locked cabinet, while a $50 drill bit set was laying around on the shelf. It doesn't always make sense to the casual observer why certain items have added theft prevention while others don't, but the stores aren't doing it just to do it. They do it because those products are stolen more easily and more often.
Load More Replies..."Hey, I have nothing useful to say, I could use some viewers, so maybe I'll just accuse some people of racism because of SOME FREAKING SECURITY TAGS!". Welcome to the 2000's, where everything is offensive, racist, sexist...
This woman needs to understand the reason why before outright accusations are made.
Is it racism, or just a consequence of darker shades being stolen more often? Genuinely curious, because the store would obviously have detailed statistics to show what products are being stolen most frequently.
Would they? Because these don’t come down from corporate. Stores in different regions would have different stats. So basically you’re saying this untrained store manager in Kentucky somehow got his stockers to be consistent in tagging items (which they are not in other stores), so that he could get a valid statistical sample (being the statistical expert that we all know Walmart employees are) in order to make an unbiased decision. All so that we can pretend this isn’t a local manager or stocker with an either conscious or unconscious bias tagging them based on what they think.
Load More Replies...Once soon a time ago I worked at Walmart as a stocker and how they decided what gets tags is by what ends up missing at inventory. When they do inventory and noticed they missing a lot of one type of product it means it's being stolen. So that product now needs to have an anti theft tag. At our Walmart condoms and pregnancy tests where in the locked case.
Typically I would stand up against any forms of racism but this just ridiculous the reason is not racism it is that certain product is being stolen a lot and that is why that is tagged
Mewton, it's basic inventory management and by calling this racism, you're ignoring the actual problems causing actual racism. Imagine how low people have to go to steal make up at Walmart. That happens and it says something about the finances and emotional state. These are actual correlations that offer you information. The solution is not ignoring the theft by crying racism, it's about the why of that theft. Why does the group attracted to this product have less money and why is stealing becoming ok for this group when it comes to this product. Walmart us simple it gets stolen, they tag it. Why on Earth would you make it harder for a product to be sold. But then. Logic is not your strong suit.
Load More Replies...Another tik-toker trying to stir something and i bet she is just doing it for likes.
Yeah, the girl who doesn’t give her name or remove her mask, is definitely just looking for attention.
Load More Replies...That's what I was thinking, like they're the same brand but totally different kinds of concealer...
Load More Replies...The formula is probably product sold vs product that's stolen. Unless its a community with a high black population, even a few individual products would cause it to be flagged for the tags. Like if the lighter shades had 2 stolen and sold 50, the profit margin would look drastically different if it had 2 stolen and 2 sold.
Except that 1) this would require leaving it untagged long enough to collect this data, 2) that sample size would not be statistically valid and if we’re not talking valid statistical samples then this really comes down to individual discretion. Which means bias comes into play. They can make an excuse in their head for why a lighter shade might have gone missing and if a single darker shade goes missing decide this is a trend. 3) finally, in this day and age there’s simply no reason to send this kind of message. If they can afford the security tags for the darker shades they can afford them for the lighter ones.
Load More Replies...Perhaps this woman could have asked a manager first before playing the racism card? Oh, wait, that wouldn't have mattered, because if the manager had explained that they put security tags on items that have been proven to "go missing" far beyond the average, she'd still consider it a lame excuse and play the racism card anyway.
Thieves are the ones discriminating by stealing only cosmetics with darker tones.
This is so stupid. They put hydrogen peroxide and electric razors behind locked cabinets in some stores. Is that racist? No. It’s stuff that gets stolen a lot and is expensive. The end.
You're referring to hair-bleaching concentrated hydrogen peroxide, right?
Load More Replies...When a shop does inventory they work out what gets stolen the most and takes steps to prevent it. There's no active racism here (usually) just data.
I tried to dig a bit into the problem last summer. From what I gathered, it about the following: some stuff made specifically for 'Afro' hair/skin (it differs) - low-income communities where people want a product yet cannot afford it - purportedly higher theft rates - tags/cages to prevent - the underlying problem of wages/livelihood.
I just love the fact that the image showing the tagged items are zoomed in so you can't see the whole shelf. The two concealer groups are not the same type, though they may be the same brand. It really looks like she zoomed in or cropped so all you can see is the darker shades. They are probably just a higher quality and colour has nothing to do with it. Adding to that, the hair care products are not all aimed at the African-American community, some of the products labels clearly show Caucasian women and many of the hair straighteners and high end conditioners are more expensive than the crap I use. Of course it would be locked up.
When did people become such fragile little snowflakes? When did all reason jump out the window. I mean for crying out loud this generation was raised on South Park now they yell about "racism" on makeup products and get mad at Dr. Suess and syrup.
Uhhhhhhhh from what I can tell those are different kinds of concealer completely????? Like, same brand but different stuff the ones with security tags are in at an angle and say FINE on them and the other ones don't???
The question is whether Walmart is using the tags in response to shrinkage data in that store, which isn't racist, or whether they preemptively placed the tags on those products without gathering data, because they made an assumption, which could be racist. There could be also be situation where the shrinkage rate predicted is the same for all the shades, say one item shoplifted for every fifty sold, but turnover is higher for the darker shades, eg 100 sold a month, compared to 10 sold a month, due to local population demographics. Then they could just be tagging the high turnover product lines.
This might not be racist for the following reason.. Kentucky is 91.9% white. Black people use concealer much less than whites. You can even see the high turnover in the picture because the lighter concealer has a new package design if you google it. The dark concealer has likely been sitting there much longer. Since Walmart recently got flack for how they tag things, they might have recently decided not to tag this makeup but not bothered to remove tags on existing stock. Since the lighter colors were restocked and not the darker, you would end up with this..... but so many knee jerk reactions below are disturbing.
I’m curious what everyone’s response is now that Walmart came out and said this is done at individual stores discretion and not data driven. https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-accused-racism-putting-security-tags-darker-shades-makeup-1573034 Additionally I spoke with someone I would consider an expert (compared to me) and they said that actually black people don’t often use concealers, the assumption being they don’t have as many skin problems and if they do, they’re not as visible. To the point that it’s rare to even find concealers in dark colors and there have been complaints of this in the past. In addition in a place like this where there are statistically more whites than blacks, there is no statistical way lighter concealers wouldn’t be stolen more (if they were both unlocked).
Scott it is very non-ignorant of you to actually do research on this. Thank you. The ignorance on this post is sickening. And yes your friend is right about the concealor. If the managers who locked this up actually knew anything about black people and their skin they would know they dont need to lock this junk up. And thanks for the statistics as well. omg I just cant. Thank you for giving me hope.
Load More Replies...The truth is even racist these days. You know what? In my honest opinion I see a lot of high profile racist yelling trying to get all the attention taking that same attention away from the real racist problems.
First time I encountered baby formula locked up was when I was on a business trip out west and stopped into a grocery to pick up snacks. The image of that was so depressing. What kind of society are we in where people have to be reduced to theft to feed their babies so often that stores feel the need to resort to that. We are failing the most vulnerable among us.
Maybe is the most stolen because of the Contouring make up trend..doesn't matter your skin tone. you will use a dark concealer to make the shades...
I actually do security in walmart and I am here to tell you all that Walmart puts tags on the things that are being stolen alot and also high priced items... so vut out all of your racist comments because it is not true. P. S. most of the people that steal are white homeless people... for those of you who are curious!
Is the pic of the glass cabinet supposed to represent racism of hair products being locked up, or just a random cabinet? Because i'm white and the shampoo i buy is in there, couldn't tell. (It is slightly more expensive but not crazy expensive and variett for all hair types).
How everybody knows this is a statistical answer and not a biased behavior, everyone here is a Walmart worker..?
I work at Walmart and we literally dont have enough security tags to put on all of the things we need it also the person who stocks it puts the security tags on the stuff we are told to small items like make up and lazer blades being two of them the reason for this is they are small and easily stolen blaming the store for something one of the workers most likely did is not fair to the store
WHY ARE PEOPLE EXCUSING THIS BULLSHIT?! RACISM IS RACISM, FOR HELL'S SAKE!
umm...heres a three second solution. why doesn't someone simply ask the black walmart employees if walmart is racist...?
Everything these days need a tag on em, especially the small and popular ones.
If those are security tags, they look pretty useless. Looks like you can still take them off the hook, and they are most likely packaged in cardboard so you can just rip the product out anyway. Also, the other example, I'm 99.9% sure the stuff in that case is not something a POC would purchase. If you look closely there's a white lady pictured on one of the products. Walmart does have a section for products specifically for POC, but this ain't it. Why am I debunking a bored panda article...
Doesn't matter what it is that is stolen. If it's enough of a product then it gets a tag or discontinued because it's not worth the issue. Cell phones, laptops, hair products, makeup, if it's stolen it gets tagged. Of course anyone who wants that makeup could just put it in the cart an walk around ripping the package open, pocket the item an stash the wrapper an tag. So it's not really doing much.
hmm idk maybe white people will steal a lot of dark concealer and put it all over them so they won't be recognized when they rob a bank or something? again idk
If they knew that then there wouldn't be a need to use tags.
Load More Replies...Is there someone here who is deeper into ethics? I am truly wondering if it would be discriminatory if putting security tags strictly based on stealing ratios. Undoubtedly, retail suffers a lot from stealing, and all honest customers effectively pay the price for this. Then of course it seems that Wallmart has a notorious background in this matter.
It wouldn't be, but it rarely/never is. As is pointed out in some of the responses, baby formula is most-stolen typically and rarely tagged.
Load More Replies...In a way this does a great job of pointing out racism. The disparities in money between minorities and white people. From the companys point of view the act of putting locks on the items isn't racist, they're just trying to keep the most stolen items from being stolen. It's annoying for management and workers to put locks on the items. They aren't doing it for fun. They are doing their jobs, protecting products. Trying to keep them there for the people who actually want to pay for the items. It's not racist in itself, but it is a symptom of a much bigger problem outside of the store. I worked at a craft store and we had to start locking up feather boas. If a particular store has too high a rate of theft, it isnt the thieves that get blamed by the company, it's the people who work in the store that get blamed. Even though they aren't allowed to accuse, follow, or even ask someone to stop shop lifting or they could lose their jobs. What are people supposed to do?
Which minority group are you talking about? The median income of Asians are higher than Whites. Race has nothing to do with it, education and family influence, everything. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2018/demo/p60-263/figure1.pdf
Load More Replies...They downvoted you for not being racist like they are. Well I gave you one back.
Load More Replies...This is strictly data-driven. They put it on the products that are most often stolen. Similarly, they lock up the video games but not the board games, but nobody is pushing "digital discrimination!!!" outrage. If you want to actually be helpful, make the observation and start a discussion about WHY the darker shades are stolen more often.
Agreed. A $20 wrench that I needed to buy was in a locked cabinet, while a $50 drill bit set was laying around on the shelf. It doesn't always make sense to the casual observer why certain items have added theft prevention while others don't, but the stores aren't doing it just to do it. They do it because those products are stolen more easily and more often.
Load More Replies..."Hey, I have nothing useful to say, I could use some viewers, so maybe I'll just accuse some people of racism because of SOME FREAKING SECURITY TAGS!". Welcome to the 2000's, where everything is offensive, racist, sexist...
This woman needs to understand the reason why before outright accusations are made.
Is it racism, or just a consequence of darker shades being stolen more often? Genuinely curious, because the store would obviously have detailed statistics to show what products are being stolen most frequently.
Would they? Because these don’t come down from corporate. Stores in different regions would have different stats. So basically you’re saying this untrained store manager in Kentucky somehow got his stockers to be consistent in tagging items (which they are not in other stores), so that he could get a valid statistical sample (being the statistical expert that we all know Walmart employees are) in order to make an unbiased decision. All so that we can pretend this isn’t a local manager or stocker with an either conscious or unconscious bias tagging them based on what they think.
Load More Replies...Once soon a time ago I worked at Walmart as a stocker and how they decided what gets tags is by what ends up missing at inventory. When they do inventory and noticed they missing a lot of one type of product it means it's being stolen. So that product now needs to have an anti theft tag. At our Walmart condoms and pregnancy tests where in the locked case.
Typically I would stand up against any forms of racism but this just ridiculous the reason is not racism it is that certain product is being stolen a lot and that is why that is tagged
Mewton, it's basic inventory management and by calling this racism, you're ignoring the actual problems causing actual racism. Imagine how low people have to go to steal make up at Walmart. That happens and it says something about the finances and emotional state. These are actual correlations that offer you information. The solution is not ignoring the theft by crying racism, it's about the why of that theft. Why does the group attracted to this product have less money and why is stealing becoming ok for this group when it comes to this product. Walmart us simple it gets stolen, they tag it. Why on Earth would you make it harder for a product to be sold. But then. Logic is not your strong suit.
Load More Replies...Another tik-toker trying to stir something and i bet she is just doing it for likes.
Yeah, the girl who doesn’t give her name or remove her mask, is definitely just looking for attention.
Load More Replies...That's what I was thinking, like they're the same brand but totally different kinds of concealer...
Load More Replies...The formula is probably product sold vs product that's stolen. Unless its a community with a high black population, even a few individual products would cause it to be flagged for the tags. Like if the lighter shades had 2 stolen and sold 50, the profit margin would look drastically different if it had 2 stolen and 2 sold.
Except that 1) this would require leaving it untagged long enough to collect this data, 2) that sample size would not be statistically valid and if we’re not talking valid statistical samples then this really comes down to individual discretion. Which means bias comes into play. They can make an excuse in their head for why a lighter shade might have gone missing and if a single darker shade goes missing decide this is a trend. 3) finally, in this day and age there’s simply no reason to send this kind of message. If they can afford the security tags for the darker shades they can afford them for the lighter ones.
Load More Replies...Perhaps this woman could have asked a manager first before playing the racism card? Oh, wait, that wouldn't have mattered, because if the manager had explained that they put security tags on items that have been proven to "go missing" far beyond the average, she'd still consider it a lame excuse and play the racism card anyway.
Thieves are the ones discriminating by stealing only cosmetics with darker tones.
This is so stupid. They put hydrogen peroxide and electric razors behind locked cabinets in some stores. Is that racist? No. It’s stuff that gets stolen a lot and is expensive. The end.
You're referring to hair-bleaching concentrated hydrogen peroxide, right?
Load More Replies...When a shop does inventory they work out what gets stolen the most and takes steps to prevent it. There's no active racism here (usually) just data.
I tried to dig a bit into the problem last summer. From what I gathered, it about the following: some stuff made specifically for 'Afro' hair/skin (it differs) - low-income communities where people want a product yet cannot afford it - purportedly higher theft rates - tags/cages to prevent - the underlying problem of wages/livelihood.
I just love the fact that the image showing the tagged items are zoomed in so you can't see the whole shelf. The two concealer groups are not the same type, though they may be the same brand. It really looks like she zoomed in or cropped so all you can see is the darker shades. They are probably just a higher quality and colour has nothing to do with it. Adding to that, the hair care products are not all aimed at the African-American community, some of the products labels clearly show Caucasian women and many of the hair straighteners and high end conditioners are more expensive than the crap I use. Of course it would be locked up.
When did people become such fragile little snowflakes? When did all reason jump out the window. I mean for crying out loud this generation was raised on South Park now they yell about "racism" on makeup products and get mad at Dr. Suess and syrup.
Uhhhhhhhh from what I can tell those are different kinds of concealer completely????? Like, same brand but different stuff the ones with security tags are in at an angle and say FINE on them and the other ones don't???
The question is whether Walmart is using the tags in response to shrinkage data in that store, which isn't racist, or whether they preemptively placed the tags on those products without gathering data, because they made an assumption, which could be racist. There could be also be situation where the shrinkage rate predicted is the same for all the shades, say one item shoplifted for every fifty sold, but turnover is higher for the darker shades, eg 100 sold a month, compared to 10 sold a month, due to local population demographics. Then they could just be tagging the high turnover product lines.
This might not be racist for the following reason.. Kentucky is 91.9% white. Black people use concealer much less than whites. You can even see the high turnover in the picture because the lighter concealer has a new package design if you google it. The dark concealer has likely been sitting there much longer. Since Walmart recently got flack for how they tag things, they might have recently decided not to tag this makeup but not bothered to remove tags on existing stock. Since the lighter colors were restocked and not the darker, you would end up with this..... but so many knee jerk reactions below are disturbing.
I’m curious what everyone’s response is now that Walmart came out and said this is done at individual stores discretion and not data driven. https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-accused-racism-putting-security-tags-darker-shades-makeup-1573034 Additionally I spoke with someone I would consider an expert (compared to me) and they said that actually black people don’t often use concealers, the assumption being they don’t have as many skin problems and if they do, they’re not as visible. To the point that it’s rare to even find concealers in dark colors and there have been complaints of this in the past. In addition in a place like this where there are statistically more whites than blacks, there is no statistical way lighter concealers wouldn’t be stolen more (if they were both unlocked).
Scott it is very non-ignorant of you to actually do research on this. Thank you. The ignorance on this post is sickening. And yes your friend is right about the concealor. If the managers who locked this up actually knew anything about black people and their skin they would know they dont need to lock this junk up. And thanks for the statistics as well. omg I just cant. Thank you for giving me hope.
Load More Replies...The truth is even racist these days. You know what? In my honest opinion I see a lot of high profile racist yelling trying to get all the attention taking that same attention away from the real racist problems.
First time I encountered baby formula locked up was when I was on a business trip out west and stopped into a grocery to pick up snacks. The image of that was so depressing. What kind of society are we in where people have to be reduced to theft to feed their babies so often that stores feel the need to resort to that. We are failing the most vulnerable among us.
Maybe is the most stolen because of the Contouring make up trend..doesn't matter your skin tone. you will use a dark concealer to make the shades...
I actually do security in walmart and I am here to tell you all that Walmart puts tags on the things that are being stolen alot and also high priced items... so vut out all of your racist comments because it is not true. P. S. most of the people that steal are white homeless people... for those of you who are curious!
Is the pic of the glass cabinet supposed to represent racism of hair products being locked up, or just a random cabinet? Because i'm white and the shampoo i buy is in there, couldn't tell. (It is slightly more expensive but not crazy expensive and variett for all hair types).
How everybody knows this is a statistical answer and not a biased behavior, everyone here is a Walmart worker..?
I work at Walmart and we literally dont have enough security tags to put on all of the things we need it also the person who stocks it puts the security tags on the stuff we are told to small items like make up and lazer blades being two of them the reason for this is they are small and easily stolen blaming the store for something one of the workers most likely did is not fair to the store
WHY ARE PEOPLE EXCUSING THIS BULLSHIT?! RACISM IS RACISM, FOR HELL'S SAKE!
umm...heres a three second solution. why doesn't someone simply ask the black walmart employees if walmart is racist...?
Everything these days need a tag on em, especially the small and popular ones.
If those are security tags, they look pretty useless. Looks like you can still take them off the hook, and they are most likely packaged in cardboard so you can just rip the product out anyway. Also, the other example, I'm 99.9% sure the stuff in that case is not something a POC would purchase. If you look closely there's a white lady pictured on one of the products. Walmart does have a section for products specifically for POC, but this ain't it. Why am I debunking a bored panda article...
Doesn't matter what it is that is stolen. If it's enough of a product then it gets a tag or discontinued because it's not worth the issue. Cell phones, laptops, hair products, makeup, if it's stolen it gets tagged. Of course anyone who wants that makeup could just put it in the cart an walk around ripping the package open, pocket the item an stash the wrapper an tag. So it's not really doing much.
hmm idk maybe white people will steal a lot of dark concealer and put it all over them so they won't be recognized when they rob a bank or something? again idk
If they knew that then there wouldn't be a need to use tags.
Load More Replies...Is there someone here who is deeper into ethics? I am truly wondering if it would be discriminatory if putting security tags strictly based on stealing ratios. Undoubtedly, retail suffers a lot from stealing, and all honest customers effectively pay the price for this. Then of course it seems that Wallmart has a notorious background in this matter.
It wouldn't be, but it rarely/never is. As is pointed out in some of the responses, baby formula is most-stolen typically and rarely tagged.
Load More Replies...In a way this does a great job of pointing out racism. The disparities in money between minorities and white people. From the companys point of view the act of putting locks on the items isn't racist, they're just trying to keep the most stolen items from being stolen. It's annoying for management and workers to put locks on the items. They aren't doing it for fun. They are doing their jobs, protecting products. Trying to keep them there for the people who actually want to pay for the items. It's not racist in itself, but it is a symptom of a much bigger problem outside of the store. I worked at a craft store and we had to start locking up feather boas. If a particular store has too high a rate of theft, it isnt the thieves that get blamed by the company, it's the people who work in the store that get blamed. Even though they aren't allowed to accuse, follow, or even ask someone to stop shop lifting or they could lose their jobs. What are people supposed to do?
Which minority group are you talking about? The median income of Asians are higher than Whites. Race has nothing to do with it, education and family influence, everything. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2018/demo/p60-263/figure1.pdf
Load More Replies...They downvoted you for not being racist like they are. Well I gave you one back.
Load More Replies...
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