Woke Sainsbury's under fire for Black History Month tweet
It’s Black History Month and this week Sainsbury’s took to Twitter to express its support for the initiative.
Opinion was, somewhat unsurprisingly, divided. Some gave Sainsbury’s the thumbs up.
However, many others (claiming to be customers) weren’t happy about being preached at by a supermarket.
“Thank you Sainsburys, I’ll do just that. I’ll do all my shopping a couple of miles down the road at Morrison’s and Aldi and spend all my money there!” said Diane Boyle.
“Many thanks for the offensive tweet. I will certainly take your advice and shop elsewhere in future. I would also recommend anyone who like their personal freedoms and does not wish to be preached at by some jumped up shopkeeper to do the same. Bye Bye Sainsbury,” commented John Whitby.
“Whoever wrote this Sainsbury's announcement needs a lesson in PR. No need for the blunt last par, which tells loyal customers where to go if they might not agree with BLM. It's confrontational and can be interpreted in many ways. Surely Chairman Martin Scicluna didn't approve it?” added Terry Manners.
Sainsbury’s was also blasted for setting up a safe space for its black colleagues, something that was done in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was also pointed out that the retailer’s board of directors are largely white.
Sainsbury’s did not respond to our request for comment.
RTIH’s take on the Sainsbury’s tweet: There is a fine line between taking a noble stand on an important issue and virtue signalling for likes and retweets.
And Sainsbury’s just crossed that line, IOHO.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a major supermarket backing Black History Month. However, it’s a slippery slope when you start telling people to shop elsewhere if they’re not down with your POV, particularly when you operate in the cut throat world of grocery retailing.
Time for a social media and PR rethink, perhaps?
