Walmart to unlock ‘multicultural’ hair products after racism row

After photos of two store shelves sparked huge backlash, one of the United State’s biggest retailers has made a stunning change.

Walmart will no longer keep beauty products for people of colour in locked cabinets after it and other United States retailers were accused of racial discrimination over the practice.

The retail giant made the change after multiple complaints of products for African-Americans being stored differently to products for white people.

The killing of George Floyd by police officers has sparked demonstrations across the globe in support of Black Lives Matter.

But Mr Floyd’s death also prompted many examples of unconscious racial bias to be called out, with a tweet from sparking outrage earlier this week.

This now viral photo shows black hair products locked in a glass cabinet.

While other hair products sat on an open shelf.

Twitter user Jesús A. Rodríguez posted two photos showing hair care products for African-American hair behind a glass cabinet, while other hair products sat on an open shelf.

“It’s more than just the police,” Mr Rodríguez captioned the two photos.

Others soon shared more examples of unconscious bias in stores, with video of sun screen for dark skin being stored behind a pillar and makeup in dark shades featuring security tags, while lighter colours did not.

One shopper told US TV station CBS how she had gone into a Walmart in Denver to buy a scarf for her hair, only to discover all the “multicultural” hair products were stored in a locked cabinet.

Lauren Epps said she was frustrated to discover black hair products locked in a cabinet while shopping in Walmart this week.

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“If I want Suave or Tresemme or Pantene, it’s out. The multicultural hair care is all locked behind the glass. That’s so ridiculous,” Lauren Epps, who is black, told the TV station.

When she asked for an employee to open the cabinet so she could purchase an item, Ms Epps said they tried to put the item into a portable locked case for her to take to the register and pay.

Disgusted by the experience Ms Epps left the store without buying the scarf.

Today at target 😡 pic.twitter.com/IZxkzzChGI

— Amber Desiree (@TheAmber_Show) June 9, 2020

Ms Epps said that keeping the products locked up made her shopping experience more “awkward”.

“I’m the kind of shopper who needs to look at things, read things. It’s awkward because you’re forced in the moment to grab it,” she said. “People don’t realise what we have to go through on a daily basis.”

It’s not the first time shoppers have complained about Walmart’s policy.

In 2018, Essie Grundy filed a lawsuit against Walmart, accusing it of racial discrimination for locking up hair products for African-American hair.

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This was in 2018, at Walmart in my very white hometown 🤦🏽‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/SbUC629i0n

— Kassi (@ksmith5200) June 9, 2020

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Walmart has previously said that the decision to lock up certain products was made “on a store-by-store basis” based on what items needed “additional security”.

However by Wednesday, Walmart changed its policy saying that while the procedure was only in place at a few stores it was being discontinued.

“We serve millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds,” it said in a statement posted to Twitter.

“We have made the decision to discontinue placing multicultural hair care and beauty products in locked cases.

“This practice was recently in place in about a dozen of our 4700 stores nationwide.”