Amazon.com’s marketplace listed a bumper sticker with the slogan “F—k China” as a top search result for China-themed jerseys and T-shirts – stunning a young Asian shopper who needed an outfit for a school event.
A source alerted The Post to the listing, first discovered by a Chinese-American teenager who was told to bring in a China-themed jersey for a school event. The student, whose family is from Hong Kong, shopped for the jersey on Amazon.
The Post obtained a screenshot of the shopper’s Amazon results for “China flag jersey,” which displayed the bumper stick in the first row, among products that appeared unrelated to the search topic.
When The Post searched Amazon’s marketplace for the phrase “China T-shirt,” the site displayed similar results, with the bumper sticker listed near the top of the page.
After a review, Amazon said the bumper sticker was incorrectly included in the customer’s search results and has been removed from appearing in the query in the future.
“Customer trust is a top priority, and we work to maintain that trust throughout the shopping experience,” Amazon spokesperson Alyssa Bronikowski said in a statement. “We continuously to monitor our store and act quickly if we find or are alerted about an issue.”
While Amazon has policies in place to govern potentially vulgar or offensive content, the definition of what constitutes a violation can be murky, according to James Thomson, a former Amazon insider who is a consultant to Amazon sellers.
“It’s hard to define what the difference is between offensive and censorship,” Thomson said.
“I think if Amazon found out this product is listed someone there might think, yeah, we shouldn’t have this…it’s a gray zone of what constitutes offensive material,” Thomson added.
Thomson noted a search for the word “f–k” yields more than 8,000 results on Amazon.
Amazon detailed its approach to the sale of “controversial products and content” in a blog post updated last month.
“Our offensive and controversial products policies prohibits the sale of products that promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views, as well as listings that graphically portray violence or victims of violence,” the company said in the post.
“We periodically review and update these policies based on experience, current events, and other relevant developments, and in consultation with internal and external resources,” the company added.
The “F—k China” bumper sticker is offered by a California-based artist named Brian Bula, who sells an array of products with slogans catering to all sides of the political spectrum. Other bumper stickers in his Amazon store say “F—k Putin,” “F—K Joe Biden” and “Trump 20-24 Years In Prison.”
Bula’s website describes him as “politically independent with friends on the right and left.”
When reached for comment, Bula noted that he also sells a “I Love China” button design — and has no control over where Amazon’s algorithm lists his products in search.
“As I am sure you know, Amazon’s algorithms decide what products to show, and search results are personalized and impacted by prior searches and information Amazon collects on and off its marketplace,” Bula said.
“Many of my products are political and me, and my products, are continually attacked by partisans with political motives – from both sides,” he added.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
