Big retailers feel pressure on Confederate flag merchandise

Even as national retailers pull Confederate flags from shelves and websites after the shooting deaths of nine black church members in South Carolina, manufacturers that produce the divisive symbol say that sales are now surging.
“I don’t sell the Confederate flag for any specific group, I just sell the flag,” said Kerry McCoy, owner and president of Arkansas’ FlagandBanner.com. “This is America. Everybody has a right to be represented whether you are a history buff or a nut.”
McCoy said her company expects to sell about 50 of the flags over the next week. That’s about half of what they typically sell in a year.
Amazon, Sears, eBay and Etsy said Tuesday (yesterday, Macau time) that they would remove Confederate flag merchandise from their websites. Sears does not sell the merchandise inside Sears or Kmart stores. Target said it pulled its historic Confederate costume from its web site, but said it did not carry Confederate flags or decor that bore that image.
Google, meanwhile, blocked digital ads featuring Confederate flags after concluding they violated the Internet company’s policy against marketing messages promoting content that could be “generally perceived” as an expression of hate toward a group of people. The ban included Google Shopping, which consists of merchant ads. Links to Confederate flags are still being shown in Google’s general search results.
The wave of merchandise bans came a day after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said that it would remove all Confederate-themed items from its store shelves and website after the South Carolina shooting suspect, Dylann Storm Roof, appeared in photos holding the flag.
Other national retailers say they do not sell, or never have sold, Confederate items.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, asked about the retailers pulling flags from stores, said those are “decisions for individual businesses to make.” He added that the businesses’ decisions were consistent with the president’s position. Tom Murphy, Business Writer, AP