Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Your favorite nostalgic fragrance store at the mall, Bath & Body Works, isn’t feeling the holiday spirit yet. The retailer, known for its often powerful autumn and Christmas candles, had to withdraw its Snowed In candle this week due to poor graphics. The candle was said to be packaged in a festive red wrapper with a picture of a snowflake, but it didn’t look like the angelic, crystalline white flakes we normally associate with winter-inspired packaging. Instead, the snowflakes looked like KKK hoods to some.

The Bath & Body Works candle that went viral has now been withdrawn by the retailer.
Photo: Bath and body works

The candle quickly went viral on social media. On Wednesday, a Reddit user posted an image of the candle and asked, “I know it’s one of those paper snowflakes, but I can’t be the only one seeing ‘it’, right…. RIGHT??” The commenters all agreed. One user on way onto shelves. Less than 48 hours later, the candle was removed from the site and all stores and the company apologized committed to listening to our teams and customers, and we are committed to fixing any mistakes we make – even if they are unintentional like this one. We apologize to anyone we offended and are working on it quickly to have this item removed and to evaluate our process going forward.”

This isn’t the first time the retailer has come under fire for poor packaging. In 2022, it went viral for a Black History Month collection with signature home fragrances and body care in kente cloth-like packaging. It seems like the art department needs a new direction.