Thread: Ebay, Google, and Forum Novelties Censor illegal alien costu

Update 2:00pm Eastern

BREAKING NEWS! Ebay, Google, and Forum Novelties Censor illegal alien costume!

"So much for free markets, free speech, or free political expression in America!" William Gheen, President of ALIPAC.

Contact: Americans for Legal Immigration PAC ALIPAC
www.alipac.us (866) 703-0864

Time line

Sat Oct 17: CNN Reports that a small pro-amnesty and pro-illegal alien group has persuaded Target to remove the illegal alien Halloween costume from its online store.

Illegal Immigrant activists call out 'Illegal Alien' costumes
http://www.alipac.us/article-4604-thread-1-0.html

Sunday Oct 18 (12 Noon EST): ALIPAC Calls for Americans who value freedom of political expression to buy the costume and stand up to censorship!

ALIPAC: Illegal Alien Costumes Are Cool for Halloween!
http://www.alipac.us/article-4605-thread-1-0.html

Sunday Oct 18 (10pm EST) All online sales locations run out of the illegal alien Halloween costume and list item as Out of Stock or Sold Out!

Monday Oct 19 (1am EST) William Gheen, President of ALIPAC lists his ordered illegal alien Halloween costume for sale on Ebay to raise awareness about illegal immigration and to display the free market value of the costume to the American public. Close to 20 bids on the costume quickly take the price up to $116 or three times the retail value!

Monday Oct 19 (11am EST): ALIPAC Sends Out Updated Press Release to over 100,000 American press contacts pointing out that the illegal alien costume has quickly sold out in all venues and is trading for a high price on Ebay

Media Update: Illegal alien costume sells out nationwide
http://www.alipac.us/article-4606-thread-1-0.html


Monday Oct 19 (1pm EST) Google pulls down William Gheen's Google ad for "Pending Review" after a very high response rate to the ad was documented 21 clicks after only 862 impressions creating a high Click Through Rate (CTR) of 2.44%. Google effectively censors the ad from public view.

Monday Oct 19 (1:30pm EST) William Gheen contacts Forum Novelties Inc. - Melville, NY and is informed that the company will not distribute any more of the costumes and that only the mask is available, without the orange jump suit that reads "Illegal Alien"

Monday Oct 19 (2pm EST) William Gheen, President of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC receives the following e-mail notice from Ebay.

---------------

"eBay sent this message to William Gheen (alipacwilliam).
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay. Learn more.

MC036 eBay Listing Removed: Hateful or Discriminatory (336282562)

Dear alipacwilliam (williamg@alipac.us),

You recently listed the following listing:

170396385534 - illegal alien Halloween costume controversial

Unfortunately, we had to remove your listing because the following information violates our policy:

eBay has made the decision to prohibit the listing of the illegal alien costumes as they may be offensive to some members. Please do not relist this item.

We don't allow listings that promote or endorse discrimination against any individuals or groups on eBay.

Learn more about this policy at:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/offensive.html
You may need to take a tutorial. The next time you sell, you may be asked to take the tutorial, if it's required. Once you've completed the tutorial successfully, please review your account status for any other possible concerns. If there are no other issues, you should be able to sell again.

Please note: violation of this or other eBay policies may result in forfeit of eBay fees on canceled listings, limits on account privileges and account suspension.

You can review our list of prohibited and restricted items here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/items-ov.html

Thanks for your understanding.

Sincerely,
eBay Trust and Safety team

Why eBay may remove your listing:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/questio ... ended.html

H5171"

-------------------------------------------



PLEASE DIRECT YOUR COMPLAINTS TO THE FOLLOWING SOURCES

eBay Inc. Headquarters
Whitman Campus
2065 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, California 95125
(800) 322-9266
(40 376-7400

Target
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403 (Map)
Phone: 612-304-6073
Fax: 612-696-5400
Online Form for Merchandise
http://www.target.com/gp/help/display-c ... ayLink=tsm

FORUM NOVELTIES INC‎
1770 Walt Whitman Rd
Melville, NY‎
(516) 536-4600‎
web@forumnovelties.com

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: +1 650-253-0000
Fax: +1 650-253-0001

WE ARE SENDING OUT THIS E-MAIL BLAST TO ALL PRESS CONTACTS, SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACTS, and ALIPAC Supporters to weigh your response.


Please post your comments, feedback, or suggestions at this link...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-966806.html#966806

I had a feeling this would happen since there were no costumes available in the search engine on ebay when I checked yesterday and now none are appearing today.

Get this out to all the media and radio that you can. There are lots of negative books, tapes, shirts, etc. that criticize groups or individuals on Ebay. Those discriminate too. Who is Ebay kidding? What about the shirts that support illegal aliens on Ebay? Isn't that supporting the violation of law?

Just noticed this article.

(quote)

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-091019c ... 0668.story

chicagotribune.com

Activists blast 'illegal alien' costume

By Leticia Espinosa

Hoy

1:04 PM CDT, October 19, 2009


Several well-known chain stores have halted sales of an "illegal alien" Halloween costume after complaints from immigrant-rights activists.

The costume includes an orange jumpsuit similar to prison garb, with ILLEGAL ALIEN stamped across the chest, a "green card" and a space alien mask.

Activists began complaining Friday when they learned the costume was being sold in stores or on Web sites of retailers including Target, Walgreen's and Amazon. The costume was priced between $27.49 and $39.99.

The costume makes a "mockery of the status of millions of immigrants in need of immigration reform," said Jorge Mujica of Chicago, an activist with the group March 10th Committee.

Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, urged a boycott of stores selling the costume. "When a corporation dehumanizes immigrants, the best thing is to stop buying from it," he said.

After Target heard from activists it apologized and halted sales of the costume. "It was never our intent to offend the consumers with the products we offer," a Target statement said.

Walgreen's spokeswoman Vivika Vergara said the costume was never on sale in its stores and was pulled from its online store. "We received feedback from customers and decided it was best to stop carrying it so it would not be subject to varied interpretation," she said in an e-mail message.

The maker of the costume, Forum Novelties Inc., based in Melville, New York, could not be reached for comment.

Activists also were offended by a revealing "illegal alien" costume for women that included a mini-dress, sleeveless top and handcuffs.

Activist and Radio Arte host Tania Unzueta called the costume " a mockery."

She said anyone who sells the costume doesn't "know a thing about the depression, anguish, pain, frustration and anger that comes from being an undocumented immigrant in the United States."

lespinosa@tribune.com


(quote)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 0668.story

Jeremiah 29:11

But it's ok to list stuff like this?

http://tinyurl.com/ygwrl8f

http://tinyurl.com/ylzhn26

I find Google, eBay and Novelty Forum Inc to be hypocrites.

Google allows pornographic advertisement not to mention images, even when you search for cartoon characters by name. eBay allows the sale and advertisement of "adult novelties", toys and costumes. Novelty Forum sells erotic costumes and "novelties".

Right... No one finds that offensive and everyone wants their children to find it, while they are surfing the Internet.

Determining what is offensive! FAIL!

Dixie

I think a "restraint of trade" issue could be made here by both W and the creator/distributor of this costume.....and would probably be more effective than talking about rights' violations because.....well...."rights" in this country no longer seem to apply to non-minority groups and/or American citizens.

Dixie mentioned porn, etc. If I recall correctly, efforts to ban that sort of stuff from various venues were blocked using restraint of trade litigation and arguments. Same thing with strip clubs, adult clubs, bars, night clubs, etc.......all inflicted upon communities using the same restraint of trade crap.

It might be worth a try......the special interests find their support from entities quickly disappear when those entities are facing possible litigation and God only knows that there's enough proof of inequitable application of their "policies" concerning what's "offensive" available straight from their own sites. Let's see 'em fight that

I don't believe that mocking anyone is against the law, in fact, I believe satire is protected speech. I knew a guy in high school who went trick or treating as Jesus Christ, complete with cross. Nothing happened to him. (Fortunately the weather was mild enough to wear a loincloth and bare chest).

Here is another type of illegal alien mask still for sale, I guess it is the jump suit they are having a problem with.

http://www.halloweenexpress.com/illegal ... 18643.html

What a joke! I hope to see a ton of home made illlegal alien costumes out there this halloween. Thanks to a very small number of hate-mongering crybabies this will be the hottest costume this year.

These people who whine about this costume, I wonder how they feel about the "naughty" nun costumes? How about "redneck" costumes? I don't know about them, but I've never seen an alien from outer space be offended over a silly costume.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

But it's ok to list stuff like this?

http://tinyurl.com/ygwrl8f

http://tinyurl.com/ylzhn26

Here's another one to add to your list-a drunk mexican costume with outrageous shipping costs:

http://tinyurl.com/yh88ffo