When a six-year-old boy found the image of Jameson in his checkers set on Palm Sunday, his grandfather, John Finn, went back to the Winn Dixie where he had purchased the set for the boy and started his own investigation.
After finding at least one more set containing the inappropriate image, Finn brought the problem to the manager’s attention.
The manager immediately pulled the game from the shelves and contacted Winn Dixie corporate offices, which directed that the game be removed from 22 stores that had ordered it.
“Winn Dixie takes these issues very seriously,” a Winn Dixie statement read. “We are currently working closely with our vendor to ensure that any issues of quality are resolved quickly.”
According to the vendor, Wisconsin-based Promotions Unlimited, the company uses recycled cardboard to divide the game-board from the pieces.
In an apology letter to the Finns, the company explained that its Chinese assembler uses the cheaper cardboard to cut costs. However, the letter went on to say, that policy had already been changed.
“We jumped all over our factory as quick as we could,” Scott Weaver, vice president of sales at Promotions Unlimited, said. “I said, 'It's our integrity you're messing with, Jack.'”
Still, the photo, which likely came from packaging used in a Jenna Jameson key chain, has the Finns very angry.
“I want to know that another kid isn't going to open this checkers game and have smut in front of his eyes,” Roberta Ann Finn, the boy’s grandmother, said.
“It says right on the thing: for kids six and up,” John Finn added. “Checkers for adults would be more like it. Ridiculous.”
