A suburban Melbourne Coles is the centre of a racism stink after a photograph of a sign advertising the “cat food, dog food, Asian” aisle went viral on social media.
The inference of the sign plays to tried racism tropes about Asian people’s diets, critics saying it perpetuates stereotypes about Asian people.
The faux pas at the unidentified store was picked up by a shopper who posted images of the sign to Reddit alongside the question: “How are these three categories related..?”
However, it appears to have divided opinion – some labelling it as racism and others believing it was all just an honest mistake.
For its part, Coles quickly remedied the sign following the social media flak.
One person writing: “Yo, that’s racist.”
Another said: “I’m not exactly the most PC person around but um… isn’t that kind of a racist implication?”
While a third responded: “Pointing out a potentially harmful stereotype isn’t being PC”.
Others thought the whole thing was a storm in a politically correct teacup!
“It’s an assumption to play racist card – more than likely it’s probably just oversight,” said one.
“Likely, they’re moving stuff around and doing it over a few days, so come back in a week and it’s probably going to be different again. Our Coles reshuffle shelving all the time,” said another.
While another, who said they worked in retail, said: “Can confirm. I do merchandising. Give it a week and it’ll be different.”
Others noted the strange layout of the shop with things like rice lumped in with cleaning products.
For its part, Coles was quick to act, removing the offending sign. A spokesperson for the grocer telling News.com.au the store in question has “split aisles with signs at each end to make it easier for customers to navigate”.
“So, while the signage appears to show pet food and Asian food located next to each other, they are actually in very separate sections.
“While we would typically aim to ensure special ranges, such as Asian or other international foods, are located within the grocery section. In some smaller stores or where aisles are split, they may be found in a different area,” the spokesperson said.
