Walmart removes 9/11 Coca-Cola display in shape of Twin Towers after outcry

It did not appear to occur to management that the display might be in poor taste until it was pointed out by a Twitter user who happened to be shopping there

The crass display appeared - briefly - at a branch of Walmart in Panama City, Florida ((Shawn Richard/Twitter))

A Florida branch of Walmart has dismantled an elaborate display of Coca-Cola products stacked to resemble the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers, following an online outcry.

The display, designed to commemorate the coming 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this weekend, was topped off with a banner of the New York City skyline, which carried the Coca-Cola and Walmart logos and was captioned: “We Will Never Forget”. Beneath the banner was a sign advertising a sale price on multipacks of Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke.

It did not appear to occur to the store’s management that the display might be in poor taste until it was pointed out by a Twitter user, Shawn Richard, who happened to be shopping at the Panama City Walmart on Tuesday. “We stopped and stared at it like, ‘Oh my god,’” Mr Richard told BuzzFeed. “Nobody seemed to be noticing it, it wasn’t very crowded, and I got the feeling that it had just been assembled.”

Mr Richard snapped a photo of the crass, Coke-based construction and posted it on social media, where it was shared by several thousand amazed and outraged Twitter users. Walmart took down the display the following day. In a statement, the firm said “there was nothing disrespectful intended by the display,” insisting: “We hold this moment in our country’s history in the highest regard.”

Coca-Cola also apologised and said the display had been intended to honour local firefighters.