Offensive Facebook post reinforces Jewish racial stereotypes at Auckland bar
A bar in Auckland has advertised a meal deal on Facebook and accompanied it with a photo of an Orthodox Jew. The caption on the post reads: “now that’s a bargain.”
The post has since been removed.
The Facebook post was shared on De Post Belgian Beer Café’s page on Saturday morning advertising a platter and drinks for $45 deal.
New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman says: “The New Zealand Jewish Council is opposed to any racial, ethnic or religious stereotyping.
We are pleased with the prompt action taken by the bar apologising and removing the item.”
It is not the first time posts of this nature have been published. Goodman says there has been other posts found by the council that were more offensive than the Mt Eden bar’s post.
De Post director Mike Jennings apologised for the post and says there was no intention to offend anyone, as De Post was a multi-cultural business.
“From our point of view right now, an inexperienced person has made that post, it has been caught up with quickly and it has been dealt with quickly,” says Jennings.
He says the company would now work with its employees to ensure the wider community’s perceptions would be respected and considered at all times.
Utterly astonishing to read of this! I am quite adept at hunting a bargain myself and known for it but would not want to be reminded of it “in that particular way.” Perhaps there was a degree of abject ignorance involved? I went through the online offerings of men’s and women’s clothes in NZ’s online department stores, late last year [one can sometimes get rather wonderful winter coats, eg. from Germany, at far less than in Oz] and apart from these terrific coats, I have to say that nearly all of the women’s offerings were pretty lacking in sophistication, if not, dare I say, downright awful! ~~~~~~ Still, NZ these days is not “totally the ends of the earth” and is a place of great physical beauty. Its where our snow bunnies shall need to retreat, when the snow expires in Oz. So I say yes, a far better standard can be fairly demanded & we should be proud that the response from NZ Jewry was prompt and assertive. [Lizzie, via Bendigo Vic]
I thought that imagination is one of our most creative gifts. Apparently not when it comes to recycling old malevolence. But, as they say: “When Jack speaks of Joe, it says more about Jack than about Joe”