The road to social media hell is paved with good intentions, as Waitrose found out earlier this week when it was accused of being “tone deaf” and legitimising the need for food banks.
Its crime? Using the phrase “Perfect for the foodbank” on a shelf sign suggesting which products could be be bought and donated to the instore collection point.
Relying solely on the generosity of shoppers, instore food donation points have seen more than their fair share of action over the past few years, with food banks increasingly relying on them to keep donations coming in.
It’s not a stretch to say the familiar cages, placed strategically near the supermarket exits, now form a crucial part of the grocery landscape in a time where the number of people relying on emergency food parcels shot up during Covid and has never returned to pre-pandemic levels.
But, in a Twitter post which has since been seen almost 800,000 times, environmental group The Alchemic Kitchen – which tackles surplus food waste and challenges inequality – accused Waitrose of being tone deaf to the “realities of people having to access food aid”.
Read the full story and Waitrose’s response on Grocery Gazette
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