A sign above the ground beef display in Adelaide’s Woolworths has sparked controversy online.
The sign reads: “What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.”
The ‘joke’ was spotted by customer Lesley Millward in the suburb of Glenelg, who then took to Facebook to say: “What a disrespectful and insensitive bunch who work at Woolworths Glenelg” – a post liked more than 15,000 times before being deleted.
Woolworths has responded, saying it takes ‘all feedback on board’. “While we understand our team’s lighthearted touch with the display, we would never intentionally offend anyone,” the company wrote.
‘Distateful’
John Smith argued: “People used to find jokes about black people funny too.
“Not in this day and age, time to move into the 21st century mate, this is distasteful at best,” he wrote.
Tim Norton added: “All the ppl saying ‘get a sense of humor’ behind this joke are millions of helpless animals trembling in fear, pleading for their life in a slaughterhouse, with no one to help them, before they are carelessly butchered.
“Put yourself in their shoes, and then think that someone is laughing about it.”
‘Golden’
While some shoppers condemned Woolworths’ move, others have praised it.
Simone Camilleri said she was ‘happy to see your staff have a great sense of humor’.
“Don’t worry about the ‘offended’ people,” she wrote. “I think a lot more people would be offended if you took it down! Can’t please everyone.
“This joke is a golden oldie and I support it.”
Sean Judd asked if Woolworths could ‘please ban all vegans from your store’.
“Their constant whining on your Facebook page offends me,” he wrote.