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Truth In Satire

After Mario Batali Gets Caught Groping In His Crocs, Sales Of Orange Things Plunge

Thousands of orange products are now being pulled from store shelves after garish color becomes associated with sexual assault

Allan Ishac
3 min readDec 16, 2017

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The mayors of coastal cities and river towns say that pairs of orange Crocs, like the ones worn by Batali, are being discarded into their waterways by the tens of thousands. (Credit: chalkboardnails.com)

Hours after ABC canned Mario Batali from its daytime cooking and talk show The Chew, retailers across the country noticed something strange happening in their sales aisles: orange products were not leaving the shelves.

The backlash against orange merchandise, which came swiftly and is all-inclusive, appears to be a consumer response to Batali’s orange Crocs, which the celebrity chef wore at all times, as well as a delayed reaction to the aversion people feel for President Donald Trump, who is orange.

“In my 30 years in retail, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Paul Huestones, Walmart’s District Manager for the Eastern U.S. “Within 24 hours of the sexual accusations against Batali, which came on the heels of months of allegations against President Trump, sales of anything orange dropped to zero. My only guess is that the vivid color has become synonymous with sexual assault, and consumers are staying away.”

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Allan Ishac
Allan Ishac

Written by Allan Ishac

Author of The Mystic In The Mews (themysticinthemews.com). Satirist. Humor writer. Former advertising creative director. Visit me at allanishac.com.

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