Swastika jewelry was posted on Sears online marketplace where you can purchase items from third-party vendors. NBC10’s Tim Furlong reached out to the company about the controversial items.
UPDATE: Sears sent out a statement Tuesday saying they have removed the rings from their Marketplace site and that they are 'outraged' that the rings appeared on the site.
A jewelry manufacturing company is at the center of controversy after rings with a swastika symbol were listed on several websites.
Jennifer Steinberg of Delaware told NBC10 she was browsing the Sears marketplace website when she spotted the item.
“I was more incredulous because Sears was a company that was founded by Jews,” Steinberg said.
The description for the swastika ring, manufactured by jewelry company CET Domain, said the following:
This gothic jewelry item in particular features a Swastika ring that’s made of .925 Thai silver. Not for Neo Nazi or any Nazi implication. These jewelry items are going to make you look beautiful at your next dinner date.
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The swastika ring was also listed on Amazon.com. Rabbi Ellen Bernhard of the Jewish Foundation of Delaware told NBC10 she was “horrified” when she saw the rings.
“I can’t even imagine in my wildest dreams,” she said. “I don’t know what anyone was thinking when they produced this or marketed this. It’s so insensitive.”
Sears Marketplace is not the official Sears website but is instead described as a “community of sellers working with Sears.”
A spokesperson for Sears told NBC10 the company removed the item from the website once they were made aware of it.
“The offensive item, which was listed by independent third-parties on Sears Marketplace, violates our guidelines, and was removed as soon as we became aware of its existence on our site,” the spokesman said. “We are contacting the sellers to strongly voice our concern over their lack of judgment.”
Rabbi Bernhard doesn’t believe Sears did enough however.
“It’s absolutely not good enough,” Bernhard said. “There needs to be an explanation and there needs to be an apology.”
NBC10 reached out to CET Domain for comment. We have not yet heard back from them.
