Walmart’s Coke display enrages social media

In the 15 years since the attacks on September 11, the world has seen a lot of tributes to the tragedy. Many are meaningful, beautiful and well thought out.

People had some different words for a tribute made out of Coke cans in a Florida Walmart: “disgusting,” “unacceptable” and “tacky.”

The display had Coke Zero boxes to represent ground zero and an American flag made of other Coke boxes in the background, with a banner overhead that read “We Will Never Forget.” It was at a Walmart in Panama City, according to the Orlando Weekly.

Charles Crowson, a spokesman for Walmart, told the Orlando Weekly that the Coca-Cola Company typically approaches them with display ideas and Walmart either approves them or not. This one was approved, but is now being taken down following the backlash.

The Coca-Cola Company has apologized for the display and replaced it.

“This display was meant to honor local firefighters and to support their organization’s upcoming event,” the company said in a statement. “We sincerely apologize that anyone was offended or misunderstood its intent, and we have replaced the display.”

Shawn Richard was on vacation in Florida with his girlfriend when he noticed the display and tweeted it, according to BuzzFeed.

“We stopped and stared at it like, oh my god,” Richard told BuzzFeed News. “Nobody seemed to be noticing it, it wasn’t very crowded, and I got the feeling that it had just been assembled. So we took some pics and went on our way.”

Reactions to the picture online were similar to Richard’s.

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 12:26 PM with the headline "Walmart’s Coke display enrages social media."