Sainsbury’s has apologised after removing a pair of trousers from its online store that were advertised using a “racial slur”.
The company, which owns the TU clothing brand, came under fire for listing a pair of school pants as having a hem that “reaches the knee,” a phrase allegedly used to disguise a racial slur.
The two pairs of pants in question are advertised as ‘Grey Skinny Pants with Reinforced Knee Hems, 2 Pack’ and ‘Knit Pants with Reinforced Knee Hems, 2 Pack’.
Other TU school pants had other titles, including ‘Skinny Fit Grow Hem’, ‘Longer Leg Grow Hem’ and ‘Generous Fit Woven Grow Hem’.
The company said it was “urgently updating” the product’s labelling after being notified of the issue, adding: “We are very sorry for any distress this has caused.”
Sainsbury’s has apologised after removing this pair of trousers from its online store that were advertised using an alleged racial slur
The company became aware of the issue after a concerned customer contacted X alleging that the term “knee growth” is supposedly used as a cover for a racial slur.
The company has begun to “urgently update” the product’s labeling after being notified of the problem (File image)
Sharing a photo of the X-rated trousers and tagging Sainsbury’s, one person wrote: “Are you aware that the name of the item below is freely used by racists to bypass n-word filters?”
“May I suggest that the article be renamed? Maybe some black faces are also included in the decision-making process, to prevent this from happening in the future.” (sic)
The tweet was viewed 230,000 times.
One viewer commented: “Oh my god, that’s terrible. Who the hell came up with that?”
“What the fuck!” said another user.
Someone else added: “I had to read this 3 or 4 times and thought, ‘What are you talking about? ‘ ‘What’s the problem? ‘ Then I watched it and now I can’t unwatch it. What a shame!”
“What the hell? I can’t believe what I’m seeing. It’s disgusting,” said another critic.
Another user commented: “I had to re-read this to see the offensive words. Damn, that’s bad!”
“It’s strange,” someone else agreed.
A spokesman for Tu said: “We are very sorry for the upset this has caused.”
“We have heard the concerns that have been shared and are urgently updating the product labeling.”
This comes shortly after chaos erupted at Sainsbury’s after a discount voucher allowing customers to get all their purchases for free went awry.
The coupon, which was available on the app on Monday, sent hordes of customers flocking to their local branch to fill their carts to the brim.
The coupon was quickly removed from the app, but several buyers managed to benefit from the error.
Several videos show shoppers at numerous stores taking advantage of the coupon before the retail giant discovered the error.
Chaos broke out at Sainsbury’s after a discount voucher went awry and allowed customers to get all their shopping for free. Pictured: A customer shows how he used the app yesterday
Rows of shopping trolleys were seen lined up at the White Rose shopping centre in Leeds packed with shoppers.
An example of coupon use: customer saves £55.84
Some customers wanted to make sure they got basic items like toilet paper, while others were more focused on taking home some luxury items.
A clip from Sainsbury’s branch in Gants Hill, east London, showed an argument between two shoppers trying their luck and store staff who tried to deny them use of the voucher.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: ‘We have seen an increase in fraudulent vouchers in our stores and have processes in place to detect and block them.
“We also have detectives in stores monitoring for attempted fraud and we are working closely with the police to address this issue. We continue to accept genuine coupons and vouchers.”
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