Tesco has been forced to get down on its knees to the Muslim community after being caught up in one of the most spectacular promotional cock-ups in recent years which featured a Ramadan-themed campaign for bacon-flavoured Pringles.
The display – which appears to have been supplied by the Pringles owner Kellogg’s – promotes pork-flavoured Smokey Bacon Pringles under the text that wishes Muslims a “Happy Ramadan” (Ramadan Mubarack).
To make matters worse, the store in Liverpool Street, London is just around the corner from one of the capital’s most important mosques, in Whitechapel.
Islamic dietary codes classify all pork, including bacon, as forbidden to devout Muslims, while the strict observance of Ramadan requires fasting during the day.
In Tesco’s defence, the Kellogg’s-owned brand does not contain any actual pork – the bacon flavour is purely artificial – although that did not prevent a major backlash on Twitter after one shopper promptly shared it online.
One tweet read: “Stupidity of this notion & idiotic marketing, so insensitive and removed from reality, it made me laugh out loud.”
Another said: “Tesco offers special deals for Muslims during Ramadan. There’s only one problem the crackheads are promoting Ramadan deals using bacon-flavoured Pringles. Either Tescos are thick or Tescos think Muslims are thick?”
A Tesco spokesman commented: “We are proud to offer a wide range of meals and products to meet the needs of our customers during Ramadan. We recognise these Pringles weren’t in the most suitable place and our store colleagues have now moved them.”
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