Morrisons has apologised after a customer accused the supermarket of making a 'racist joke' by placing a monkey teething toy in the world foods aisle, directly next to African and Caribbean products.
Shopper's discovery
Nadeane Smallwood, 37, spotted the mini monkey teething toy, priced at £5, in the Morrisons Brentford Waterfront store in West London on Saturday, June 20. The toy was positioned next to a sign featuring Jamaican and Nigerian flags.
Smallwood, an operations manager from Gunnersbury Park, said she noticed the placement immediately and found it offensive. 'I noticed it straight away and I thought, why on earth did they put that there,' she said. 'It's not a big Morrisons, so I looked around the whole shop, and there was a bit of a pattern to where the hanging items are placed; the locations of them all made sense. They had thought about it; it was not random.'
Allegations of racism
Smallwood, who holds both British and Jamaican citizenship, described the placement as '100% a racist joke' and said it felt like 'taking the p*ss'. 'I have travelled a lot, and you get an odd comment, but I never experienced it so blatantly in the UK,' she said. 'I have never experienced anything so brazen, and all just for existing.'
She did not speak to store staff at the time, fearing a major conflict.
Morrisons' response
A Morrisons spokesperson said: 'We sincerely apologise for the placement of this product, it was never our intention to offend. As soon as we were made aware, we removed the product.'
The supermarket said the product was removed immediately upon being notified of the issue.
