Is Zazzle ok with Alligator Alcatraz merch being sold?

[MasterpieceCafe]

IMO it's sickening.

Same question for the "illegal aliens" merch, etc.

I'd like to know if there is an official stance on this type of merchandise. IMO it falls under "hate speech"

[MOM]

I strongly second. I haven’t seen any such merch yet on Zazzle thankfully.

[MasterpieceCafe]

Maybe it's been taken down? I saw some earlier, that's why I asked the question. I wasn't sure if it had just slipped through the cracks or was allowed or just hadn't been taken down yet.

EDIT: There is still merch up. 😥

[ColsCreations]

I just looked, 221 results for the term, mostly by the same few designers. Reading the descriptions, I don't think they have any idea what this is, they are so inappropriate. Hilarious T-shirt for tourists ... funny parody of Alcatraz with an alligator escaping ... great gift for reptile lovers .... I mean really?

But FYI - a dentist from Florida filed June 30 to trademark 'alligator alcatraz' for the following categories

"The trademark application has been accepted by the Office (has met the minimum filing requirements) and has not yet been assigned to an examiner."

[PenguinPower]

So many things to roll eyes over... Maybe he's doing it to keep people from profiting off the term, but somehow I doubt that. Sounds like he's got PODs quite covered there...

[MasterpieceCafe]

It makes me sad that these products will be taken down for Trademark and not for racism and hate.

[DancingPelican]

I did a Google search yesterday on the term Alligator Alcatraz and saw many links to a GOP Merch Site in FL selling tshirts and other merch with this term.

[Barbara]

@ColsCreations

I think you're absolutely right that the designers are ignorant about what they're actually referring to. They caught the name on the internet, thought it had a ring to it, and are now repeating it in products. It reminds me of my son coming home from grammar school one day, repeating a truly vulgar word he'd heard. I asked him to define the word, he couldn't, and I him he shouldn't use a word he couldn't define. Problem solved. Maybe those people ought to be asked the same question.

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[Barbara]

Poor taste seems all the rage these days, most of it being on the internet.

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[MOM]

 

 

@MasterpieceCafe @ColsCreations  I understand I‘m not allowed to post links to a listing in the forum but I wonder not only about the hateful message content but also about the kind of listing this is in general? Isn’t this considered keyword stuffing? It’s hateful and spammy (way exceeding just being in poor taste in my opinion). 👎🏽 And up to 258 listings right now. 💔 😐

[MasterpieceCafe]

Wow, it never occurred to me to be keyword stuffing in the description!  **sigh**

[MOM]

@MasterpieceCafe  Right? I had to look twice too. At least I just learned from an other forum post here that Zazzle is actually ignoring our descriptions. I didn't know that.

[TRW]

I am not sure what you mean by that...can you clarify? link to the post you referred to?
how can Zazzle ignore the descriptions? 
I thought the descriptions were a MAJOR part of how designs were found both by zazzle internal search as well as via google and other search engines 

[TRW]

I have found so many shops lately using this technique... not with this design in particular, but in general. They use a randomly created shop name using a meaningless string of letters and numbers, they use the same description and tags (all irrelevant to their designs) on every single product, they are adding upwards of 500 new products daily (clearly automated)... and to date despite my reporting each shop I have found, zazzle has not removed ANY of them
I also have fellow designer friends in facebook groups who are reporting them and they relate the same...zazzle does not and apparently WILL NOT police these clear copyright thefts nor ban the shops and remove merch created by them 

[PenguinPower]

There most certainly is - I should hope they simply haven't seen/tracked down all of these designs yet as I'd say they clearly violate these bullet points in Z's policies on acceptable designs 

• No content that can reasonably be viewed as harassing, threatening, or otherwise harmful
• No hate speech
• No content that can reasonably be viewed as discriminatory based upon race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability

[MOM]

@MasterpieceCafe  @PenguinPower  Yes. It's a holiday weekend, sigh. We have now 825 listings in 32 stores. 😞

[TaylorC]

Over a thousand now. So, so disappointing.

[Heather · Accepted solution]

Hi Creators - Content is going to be removed. Note, it may take some time before the site updates.

[TRW]

Heather does that apply to ALL the shops using the fake auto-generated shop names, the same description and tags (spammed generic highly searched terms) and and identical descriptions on everything they publish? the shops scraping and auto-posting 500-1000 products per day (and I suspect all of them copyright theft?)
I mean in general not specifically on the Alligator Alley merch. I have reported many, my online designer group friends are also doing so... and when we recheck it is all still there. 
This seriously needs to be addressed across the site not just on certain products. 

[MaggieA]

That no moderator has answered this question https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ask-a-question/moderator-question-is-zazzle-interested-at-all-to-kno... might be a clue...

[MasterpieceCafe]

Thank you! 

[MasterpieceCafe]

Looks like "alligator alcatraz" is gone, but still a lot of hateful "illegal alien" and "illegal immigrant" merch up. These are slurs and definitely fall under the "no hate speech" guidelines that Zazzle has posted.

I'm an immigrant. I had a greencard for years. I'm now a dual citizen. This is very personal for me.