A Pak'nSave supermarket is being accused of careless advertising, after a customer posted an image from a Hamilton store showing "good health" signs pinned to unhealthy food.
Ngaruawahia resident David Neilson was shopping at Mill St Pak'nSave on Saturday when he spotted the "ridiculous" paradox. On Monday he told Newshub he has "come to expect that" from the Foodstuffs-owned grocery chain.
Foodstuffs has acknowledged the blunder, with external relations manager Sue Hamilton telling Newshub the promotional signage was not used "appropriately".
"The signage relates to a week-long promotion which is now complete," she said. "All stores were issued with a template for price signage which has, in this particular instance, not been used appropriately."
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The 'Good Health Week' promotion, which ended on Sunday, was supposed to promote healthy food at affordable prices.
But as Mr Neilson's image shows, some of the promotional material was instead attached to food products high in sugar and preservatives, such as Coca-Cola, instant noodle packets and Mexicano corn chips. There is about 10.6g of sugar per 100ml of Coca-Cola.
The image posted to Reddit garnered a range of responses, with some finding humour in the supermarket's mistake, while others were outraged that it would promote typically unhealthy foods under its "good health" deal.
"I was prepared for one unhealthy thing to be included in the sale, but four, and those four? What kind of message is this sending to the nutritionally illiterate?" Reddit user kezzaNZ commented.
Another user pointed to the irony in Pak'nSave's stickman logo, saying the supermarket chain needs to "draw their stickman with a huge gut and fat rolls to be more accurate."
It's not the first time Pak'nSave has had to defend its ads. A complaint made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in July criticised the supermarket's 'Meat Week' promotion, which complainant M Taylor said was "highly offensive" to vegetarians.
The ad which aired on radio contained wording along the lines of: 'Tofu turkey, coconut bacon? Nice try vegetables. At Pak'nSave we sell REAL meat.'
But the complaint was dismissed by ASA, saying Pak'nSave "made use of humour... with the voiceover being performed by well-known comedian Paul Ego".
It said while some viewers might not find it funny, offence was unlikely to be widespread.
Newshub.
