'Baby Daddy' Father's Day card pulled from US stores after fierce backlash

Facebook/TakeishaSaunders
Eleanor Rose15 June 2018

US retail giant Target has apologised for selling a Father's Day card bearing the slogan "Baby Daddy" alongside a picture of a black couple.

Takeisha Saunders, who is African American, was searching in the department store's Dallas branch, hoping to find a card saying "husband" with a black couple on it.

That's when she found the "Baby Daddy" card. "Baby daddy" usually means the father of a single mother's child and is sometimes used pejoratively.

"You CANNOT be serious Target!!!! Really!!!?!!!!? This was the only Father's Day card that featured a black couple!!!!!" Ms Saunders wrote on Facebook as she posted an image of the card.

She told CNN that she was concerned about the lack of diversity in the cards available at the shop she visited.

People responded with anger in response to the post. One man wrote: "Given the stereotypes out there, this card is racist."

One commenter responded with a picture of the inside of the card, which has a message referring to a "wonderful husband and father".

But Saunders responded to say her husband said he would still be upset to receive it "because of what the term generally means in our culture".

After Ms Saunders's post was widely shared, Target announced it is pulling the card from its branches.

"We want all guests to feel welcomed and respected when they shop at Target.

"We were made aware of some concerns about this card last week and are working with our vendor to have it removed from Target stores," it said in a statement.

"We appreciate the feedback and apologise. It's never our intent to offend any of our guests with the products we sell."

The firm that produced the card, American Greetings, apologised on Twitter.

"This card was intended to be a playful husband card, but we have notified the product team that it missed the mark," it said.

"Please accept our sincerest apologies and know we will do better in the future."

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