Hallmark Cards was pulling gift wrap from U.S. stores after a complaint that the wrapping paper's design contains a swastika, a symbol associated with the persecution of Jews. Walgreens was doing the same thing earlier in the week.
Reuters reported that Hallmark issued an apology on Tuesday and said that the blue and silver wrapping paper was designed to represent a type of vessel, and any similarity to a swastika was unintentional. The company said the pattern has been in the company's reference archives for several years.
Hallmark spokeswoman Linda Odell said a customer in California first raised the issue, seeing a swastika image in a series of intersecting lines featured on the holiday paper.
"As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we began taking steps to remove the gift wrap from all store shelves and we will ensure the pattern is not used on any product formats going forward," a company statement said. "We sincerely apologize for this oversight and for any unintended offense."
Hallmark did not answer a question about how much paper was involved in the recall.
"The priority is communicating with retailers about removing the current version from shelves," Odell said.
Cheryl Shapiro told
KNBC-TV she was in a Walgreens store in Northridge, in suburban Los Angeles, when she found the wrapping paper with a geometric blue-and-silver pattern and large blue lines connecting on the edge in the shape of the infamous Nazi symbol.
KNBC-TV reported that the wrap was removed by the managers and other Walgreens stores are doing the same. Walgreens spokesman Phil Caruso declined to comment on the design itself.
"We are in the process of removing the product from our stores," he told the television station.
Roughly 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis in Germany during World War Two, and the swastika is seen by many as a symbol of support for the Nazis.
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