A pharmacy with locations in the Twin Cities is accused of targeting African Americans by placing security tags on products they typically purchase.

CVS Pharmacy places the tags marked “Security Label” on certain products. The tags will set off alarms at the stores’ exits if not deactivated by cashiers.

Woodbury resident Krista Betts was shopping with her daughter at a local CVS when she noticed the tags on products targeted to African Americans.

"I started looking at the products where most of the African American hair products are, and I kept noticing all the white labels,” Betts said.

She did not notice the tags on products marketed to customers of other ethnicities. "I looked over and saw a package of Rogaine, and it said $45.99, and I just kind of picked it up ... No white label,” she says.

"I was just really offended,” Betts continued. “I left my basket, all my products in there and left.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigators went to the CVS in Woodbury with a hidden camera and verified Bett’s claims. We also noticed the same situation at a CVS location in St. Paul.

John McCullough of the Retailers’ Protection Association identified the labels as security tags. “This is a radio frequency tag, it’s very common,” he says.

McCullough also says decisions about which products are tagged are based on theft rates of certain products.

"I don't see a retailer justifying putting tags on just for behavioral issues or a perception issue,” he says.

A spokesperson for CVS says the tag was *not* put on at the Woodbury store, but by the distributor or manufacturer. The company says it is ‘absolutely untrue’ to say the tag was put on for racial reasons.

The spokesperson also said other, ‘non-ethnic products’ have the same tags, but we did not find any in the Woodbury location. We were also told razor blades and teeth whitening products are also tagged, but were unable to find those tagged products on store shelves Wednesday morning.

Originally posted by AngleKitty-BHM

If this is true, I don't think we should be THAT upset.

I worked opposite a CVS a few years ago. This was in a run-down, 99.99% black area. Every single day people would come into my office and try to sell things that they stole from the CVS. I often wondered why they didn't just close that branch down since almost everything was being stolen. Anytime I was at a mall or department store in a mixed area, and the alarm at the door went off, it would always happen to be a black or hispanic person.

Anyway, my point is... Anyone witnessing actions like this will automatically be wary of black customers and take extra precautions to try to protect their business. It's just a few bad seeds making it bad for the rest of us. It's not Honest black people's fault just like it's not CVS's or any other merchant's fault, and they shouldn't have to turn a blind eye and allow themselves to go bankrupt. Also, if we don't have anything to hide, what's the big deal?

In closing, no it's not a good thing, but it's not a big deal.