Oh, then you're right, this is definitely less okay. I was under the impression that they just stopped delivering them from Walmart (or wherever) via Shopping Express, rather than special-casing the search results.

I guess the argument one could make is that the confederate flag is more dangerous and relevant today, but I don't really buy that.

Occam's razor suggests this is just an easy PR grab. They get a few headlines in mainstream tech press for free, and very minor backlash from "free speech nutjubs" as the only downside.