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'Own the School Year Like a Hero' sign displayed above Walmart gun rack

The sign encouraged children to be a hero.

Brian Koerber

on August 9, 2017

UPDATE Aug. 12 8:04 p.m. ET: "We have definite proof it was a prank."

That's what Walmart spokesperson Charles Crowson said to The Associated Press on Friday. He declined to share any other information, beyond confirming that the photo did not come from a store in Evansville, Indiana.

ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS:

A poorly placed back-to-school campaign sign was apparently spotted above a gun rack at a Walmart store.

Twitter user @ismailkidd tweeted out a photo of the sign, which urged children to "own the school year like a hero." The sign was seen in the sports section of a Walmart on Wednesday.

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The account tagged the official Walmart twitter handle, which has since responded to the tweet, stating the sign has since been removed.

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Given U.S. history with mass shootings at schools, many found the sign to be offensive and incredibly problematic.

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The official Walmart account is now in damage control mode, responding to others who have posted the photo on their feed.

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The account also tweeted that a manager "confirmed there was no such sign" at the location where the sign allegedly appeared. It appears as if Walmart is still attempting to track down where the sign was located. Given Walmart has over 4,000 locations across the country, this is likely no easy task. It appears as if the photo first emerged on Reddit on Wednesday.

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A spokesperson for Walmart issued the following statement to Mashable.

What’s seen in this photograph would never be acceptable in our stores. We regret this situation and are looking into how it could have happened.

The back-to-school campaign was launched in mid July, and clearly was not supposed to be placed above the gun rack. It is unclear if the sign was placed there by a manager or employee, or possibly by a prankster customer.

Regardless, people were not pleased by the image.

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Although Walmart stopped selling assault weapons in 2015, it remains the largest seller of firearms in the United States. Though behind a protected case, Walmart's guns are visible to all customers, including children.

Brian Koerber

Brian was the Culture Editor and has been working at Mashable on the web culture desk since 2014.