Christchurch Pak'nSave halts $3.99 wine sale

  • 23/03/2018
Hardys Moscato.
Hardys Moscato. Photo credit: Hardys

A Christchurch Pak'nSave special offering a full-size bottle of wine for $3.99 has been withdrawn.

The sale for Hardy's Moscato failed to mention the wine's low alcohol content of only 6 percent - 3.5 standard drinks a bottle.

At the advertised price it worked out to $1 per standard drink, roughly the same as a bottle being sold at $7.99.

National Addiction Centre director Doug Sellman said the non-promotion of its alcohol content was a "cynical and cunning ploy" to make it appear cheaper than it was.

He told Stuff if the special was clearer about the wine's alcohol content, he would be more supportive.

"I think a more responsible alcohol industry would actively promote low-alcohol beverages, but not at very low prices."

Pak'nSave's owner Foodstuffs contacted the store asking them to withdraw the special.

"This promotion was a local one run solely by this particular store on a low-alcohol wine," spokeswoman Antoinette Laird told Newshub.

"We do take our responsibility as a retailer very seriously."

Prof Sellman called it an example of the way alcohol is used to bring in customers.

"Alcohol is being used as bait to tempt customers into supermarkets to buy other commodities, which have had their prices inflated, such as fruit and vegetables," he said.

Newshub.