Walmart said it will re-edit a commercial advertising its cellphone services after receiving complaints about one of the actors who says "I can't breathe" during the ad, NBC News reported.
The commercial shows a black father showing his young daughter his new Walmart Family Mobile phone with unlimited Internet access. His daughter gets excited over the phone, but she gets even more excited when her father whips out another phone just for her.
Overjoyed with the gift, the girl places her arms around her dad's neck, causing him to jokingly say, "I can't breathe."
Viewers of the commercial, which first aired during the summer, said it was an uncomfortable reminder of the last words uttered by Staten Island man Eric Garner while an NYPD officer held him in a chokehold on the ground during a July arrest attempt.
"It struck a nerve in myself," Shana Sanders, of Atlanta, Georgia, told NBC News. "It immediately made me think of the Eric Garner case where he was choked by the arms of a New York police officer."
On Wednesday, a grand jury cleared officer Daniel Pantaleo of all charges for the 43-year-old's death. Demonstrators took to the streets of New York City expressing outrage over the decision, calling it a gross failure of justice.
Darrell London, from Georgia, told the station the commercial also reminded him of the case.
"Albeit it's his daughter and he's joking about choking...the timing of the video is not good," London said. "I immediately thought of Eric Garner.
"Have her give him a high five or kiss on the cheek...or even a fist bump," he added.
Walmart notified Twitter followers it will be altering the commercial after users complained.
"Based on feedback from customers we're going to be re-editing the ad," Deisha Barnett, the discount chain's senior director of corporate communications, told NBC News.
