Dear Santa Sign: Dillard’s Pulls Sign Found In Girls’ Clothing Section After Viral Facebook Post

A “Dear Santa” sign at Dillard’s went viral as many lamented the message it sent. The sign was spotted in the little girls’ clothing section at a Florida Dillard’s store recently and when one mom took a picture and posted it on Facebook, others took notice.

According to WPTV, a mom of three noticed the “Dear Santa” sign at Dillard’s as she was shopping with her kids. Once the photo went viral, employees from the store apparently said that it was never meant to be placed in the girls’ clothing section. It has been removed and it seems that Dillard’s has now directed all stores to remove the signs entirely from their sales floors.

The sign raising such a ruckus reads, “Dear Santa, this year please give me a big fat bank account and a slim body. Please don’t mix those two up like you did last year. Thanks.” As USA Today notes, the “Dear Santa” sign at Dillard’s was meant to be in the home merchandise section alongside other “whimsical” signs, according to the store’s spokeswoman Julie Johnson Bull.

Though the sign can be found in other places online and in stores, it seems, Dillard’s will no longer carry it in any department. Bull shares that all 298 stores have now pulled it and the decision was a direct response to the social media uproar. While this isn’t the first instance of a social media firestorm leading to change in a national chain, this one may have been one of the most swiftly-moving.

It’s not known at this point how the sign got placed in the girls’ clothing section or why. Once the photo spread online, however, many quickly stepped up to say it sent a poor message to young girls. Some would argue it’s an all-around negative message to adults and kids alike.

The original post came via Julie Khanna’s Facebook post and it was shared nearly 400 times just from her original post, never mind how it spread via other outlets. Khanna noted that she had spoken to a manager at the location when she first saw the sign who said it would be taken down “for now” but she wouldn’t take it down without the store manager’s approval. That response would seemingly indicate that employees at the store purposefully put the sign in that display themselves, which most would say is a questionable decision at best.

A subsequent post by Khanna indicated that she had gotten messages of both support and opposition after she shared the sign photo. She said her intent was to send a message to Dillard’s that shoppers wouldn’t want their kids to see a message like that. While some said it was a harmless joke, it would seem that the opposition over the “Dear Santa” sign at Dillard’s was taken seriously on a corporate level at least. Will that chain and others think twice before embracing a sign like this, especially with that type of placement?

[Image via Julia Khanna’s Facebook page]