A wallet mocking the homeless?

It exists, and it landed retailer CB2 in hot water. 



Following an outcry from consumers after the Jezebel blog highlighted the item, CB2 on Tuesday removed the Lucky Beggar Wallet from its website and apologized. The company issued the following statement to Yahoo's Shine blog:

"We made a bad decision when we purchased this product. We apologize for the product and the insensitive language used in its description. We have pulled the product from our stores and our website. Please accept our apologies for this lapse in judgment."

CB2 continued to mop up the mess today by taking to Twitter:

@jezebel We made a bad decision when we purchased this product & have pulled it from stores & online. Please accept our deepest apologies.

— CB2 (@CB2tweets) December 5, 2012

Quite fittingly, CB2 also sells an apology party kit:



However, CB2 is not the only retailer selling the offensive accessory. As of writing this post it is a best seller at Kikkerland, which could make this PR crisis spread over the next few hours and perhaps days. 

Brian Adams consults with nonprofits, including Komera Project, regarding communications strategy. Brian was previously senior director of communications at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and the head of media and community relations for the MSPCA-Angell. A version of this story first appeared on the author's blog.