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Yeah, you can find prominent symbols used in many different cultures, especially simpler symbols like basic shapes or geometric patterns. A lot of times completely independent of each other to boot.
But the core of it is that some symbols will become offensive or act as a warning sign to other groups simply because a group using that symbol has done stupid/bad things. Being able to recognize that the swastika is linked to Nazis off the top of your head might help you live longer than recognizing it as the Navajo symbol. I don't think anyone here has an actual belief that the Navajo will run around anytime soon threatening to kill to people, while neo-Nazi movements can still be troublesome.
The problem that the US has had in the last few decades is that our actions that affect the world stage haven't always been received well. So their viewpoint of the symbol changes, and it is simply that much harder to purge that new meaning out once it is there, because it is negative.
As for this company, I'm not entirely sure why they felt their customers would be getting that offended on American soil over an American flag (I work in an area filled with a lot of people working here under H-1B visas, and have not encountered anything like this). That said, I'm not entirely sure I'd file this in my priority list of "things that need fixing right now", since this is a private company perfectly welcome to push themselves out of the marketplace, IMO. I'd rather have time/money spent on regulations that actually have a larger social/economic/environmental benefit for the cost, or because the cost of not doing it are too high.
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