Some shoppers were in for a surprise when they went to their local Target (TGT) looking for a Father’s Day card in the past couple weeks.
Across many of its stores, Target was carrying an American Greetings card depicting an African-American couple with the words “Baby Daddy” overlaid over them.
The card, which was first called out by Facebook user Takeisha Saunders for being the only card depicting an African-American couple and using a culturally insensitive term, is due to be removed from about 900 Target stores.
Seriously @Target???? Baby Daddy is not a term of endearment. This is an insult to black fathers and a slap in the face to the African-American community as a whole. There are plenty of black men that are EXCELLENT FATHERS, not “baby daddies”!!! pic.twitter.com/Q9OWRpBl0M
— Licia (@MsLiciaYvette) June 11, 2018
The retailer has apologized for offending shoppers.
“We want all guests to feel welcomed and respected when they shop at Target,” said Joshua Thomas, a spokesperson for the company. “We were made aware of some concerns about this card last week and are working with our vendor to have it removed from Target stores. We appreciate the feedback and apologize. It’s never our intent to offend any of our guests with the products we sell.”