The Christmas Tree Shops down on the Cape have decided to pull their shark merchandise after receiving complaints from some customers who found their products to be offensive and insensitive towards family or friends who lost someone to a shark attack down on the Cape. The shops received multiple complaints this past week that pushed them to make this decision. A spokesperson for the Christmas Tree Shop's parent company, Jessica Joyce put out a statement on behalf of the company: "We have removed these items from the Cape locations. It is never our intention to offend customers by our merchandise assortment. We understand our vast and diverse customer base consists of people with many different views and sensibilities which sometimes get reflected in their shopping preferences. We appreciate all customer feedback and understand this is a sensitive issue toward which many people have different feelings."
Some of the merchandise that was featured at the Christmas Tree Shops (as you see above) say things like "Nice to eat you" or "Send more tourists, the last ones were delicious!"
Are you offended by this? Now, sure it's easy to say no if you were never attacked by a shark nor was a family member or friend. If you were attacked, put yourself in that situation, would you be upset upon seeing this type of merch in the Christmas Tree Shops?
I can tell you I would not be offended and I am not. People know when they step foot in that water you are at risk. There are signs warning of sharks and potential danger. I understand it's a horrible situation where a young man died last year on the Cape and in no way am I supporting that or making fun of it. However let me give you an example: should Florida who is known for it's alligators, just like the Cape is known for it's sharks, ban any and all gator related products because a toddler was snatched and killed by a gator near a Disney resort last year? There were signs warning of gators too...it's the same thing. Is it insensitive to sell alligator products that say "bite me" as they do in Florida and should they stop because there was a fatal attack by a gator? Nature results in tragic unpredictable results sometimes and you're either going to acknowledge nature and head it's warnings and sometimes try to lighten the mood by making a joke about not the tragedy but the nature itself like the sharks down the cape or you boycott or suppress nature which you cannot control even if you tried.
-Producer Lightning