Supermarket “gaffes”, Ramadan promotions and Muslim ‘fury’

A West London branch of Morrisons is the second supermarket to make news after “a blunder” in which it advertised frozen pork products to customers beside promotional stickers for Ramadan, the London Evening Standard reports.

This incident comes days after a Tesco store in Liverpool Street came under fire for placing ‘Smokey Bacon’ flavour Pringles on a product display wishing Muslim customers “Ramadan Mubarak”.

A Muslim customer, Shoaib Khan, noticed the sticker in the Morrisons store on 25 May and described the mistake as a “disappointing gaffe.”

“I don’t think it’s offensive, but it’s disappointing,” said Khan.

“If you’re going to do something like that you need to do it properly. I wasn’t offended, but other Muslims might have been. They need to be careful about this sort of thing,” he added.

The Evening Standard reports that Morrisons believe the sticker may have been deliberately moved by a customer as pork products are, obviously, not part of their Ramadan promotions.

“The photo appears to show a Ramadan sticker that was originally located in another freezer section.”

“Somebody appears to have moved the sticker before the photo was taken. We can confirm that the Ramadan sticker is not near any pork products this week,” a spokesperson said.

The Daily Express reports that a second Morrisons store has received complaints from a customer who took a photo of products containing ham in a display advertising the supermarket’s Ramadan promotion.

Jameela Ahmed tweeted the picture on 24 June prompting a Morrisons staff member to quickly enquire as to which store the photo was taken in.

Ahmed confirmed it was her local store in Bedford and a spokesperson from the store, reiterating the statement from the supermarket’s west London branch, insisted that the Ramadan sticker must have been moved from another fridge before the photo was taken.

Customers who have posted photos of “gaffes” found in supermarket aisles have helped them to respond swiftly to what appears to be mischief-making.

But then consider the manner in which the newspapers have reported the “gaffes”.

The Daily Express headlines the article “More Muslim outrage after supermarket sells pork next to Ramadan sticker” and offers this opening sentence:

“The Morrisons store was attacked by Shoaib Khan for the “disappointing gaffe” after he spotted the sticker on a freezer.”

Compare this to the report in the Evening Standard newspaper which notes that Mr Khan “said he doubted it had been done on purpose but suspected an oblivious member of staff was responsible.”

The ES adds Mr Khan’s further comment that “[He] wasn’t offended but other Muslims might have been.”

Does Mr Khan’s describing the incident as “[not] offensive, but it’s disappointing,” justify the Daily Express’ representation of “More Muslim outrage” and its claims that the Morrisons store was “attacked by Shoaib Khan”?

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time the Daily Express has been caught stoking anti-Muslim intolerance or contributed to the manufacturing of “Muslim rage”.