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'Very, very wrong': Shoppers confused over Coles' Covid email

Coles customers have taken to social media to express their confusion over the first line of the supermarket giant’s latest marketing email.

On Friday, people started sharing screenshots of an email sent from Coles Group CEO Steven Cain to customers.

“What a relief that COVID is behind us, summer has arrived and the holiday season is fast approaching,” the email begins.

The email then goes on to reassure customers safety is the company’s number one priority and that Covid-safe measures are still in place in the lead up to Christmas, which is one of the busiest times of the year for supermarkets across Australia.

The first line of Steven Cain's email confused Coles customers, as it said Covid was "behind us". Source: Facebook
The first line of Steven Cain's email confused Coles customers, as it said Covid was "behind us". Source: Facebook

However, it was that first line which stumped people - though Australia marked first seven-day period without any community transmission of coronavirus since February 29 on Friday, the pandemic is not over.

“Hate to break it to you but COVID-19 is far from over,” one person tweeted.

Another customer who got the email said all it could take is just one small failure and Australia could be overwhelmed with Covid cases and that Mr Cain’s words could have been “chosen better”.

“I didn't realise COVID was behind us Steven,” one person remarked on Facebook.

“Do you know something the rest of the world doesn't?”

One person on Facebook said they were “very surprised” to see how the email started.

“I’m sorry to say he is very, very wrong,” they said.

“COVID will never be behind us until the majority of the world population has been vaccinated. It’s a credit to Coles that the sanitisation stations will remain at the front of every store, but COVID is NOT behind us yet.”

Coles is still encouraging customers to be Covid-safe while shopping in the lead up to Christmas. Source: AAP
Coles is still encouraging customers to be Covid-safe while shopping in the lead up to Christmas. Source: AAP

Coles has since released a statement to Yahoo News Australia explaining the error.

“The message originally said that the second wave of COVID was over, however in reformatting the text for email the phrase was inadvertently shortened to just ‘COVID’.

“Coles is acutely aware of the ongoing risk posed by COVID and we are continuing to employ heightened safety and hygiene measures in our stores, including increased frequency of cleaning and an additional 4000 additional sanitisation stands across our stores. We apologise to customers for the error and look forward to serving them safely in the lead up to Christmas.”

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