Sunrise host slams Kmart for 'rubbish' double standard
Kmart has been criticised by the public and the media alike after certain religious words were effectively banned at photo printing kiosks.
Customers found they were unable to caption their photos with words like ‘Jesus’, ‘Bible’, ‘church’, ‘Jewish’ and ‘Allah’, and were instead getting an error message detecting a ‘profanity’.
Kmart quickly responded by blaming a ‘system error’, but Sunrise host Samantha Armytage thinks that’s ‘rubbish’.
“Kmart’s come out this morning and said it’s a technical glitch, rubbish!” Sam said while leading a discussion on the matter with two other panellists.
“They have to beg for forgiveness to whichever god they beg to,” she added.
The so-called error triggered an agitated response from the department store’s many followers, who labelled it ‘vile’ and an ‘attempt to be trendy’.
“This is unbelievable! FI will just go to Big W!” wrote one angered shopper.
“Surely cannot be true... No one, yet alone a massive company cannot be this stupid,” said another.
In a statement, Kmart said the technical glitch has now been amended.
“This was a system error which has now been updated and in no way reflects our views as a business,” said a spokesman for Kmart.
“We support diversity and inclusiveness irrespective of race, religion, age, gender, ethnicity, ability, appearance or attitude.”
Sky News’ Daisy Cousens took the criticism seriously, calling the selection of words a ‘huge double standard’.
“It’s like it’s a joke. Sure, they’ve blamed it on a software error but isn’t that what you blame everything on when something goes wrong that’s somewhat controversial?” she said.
The backlash comes amid a string of product successes for the popular retailer, which has gained a reputation for cult fashion buys and practical homewares in the past few years.
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