Woolworths takes down Anzac 'Fresh in our Memories' website after social media backlash

Updated

Supermarket giant Woolworths has ended a controversial Anzac Day campaign that saw the company's logo and the phrase "Fresh in our Memories" placed over the images of former soldiers.

The campaign, which the supermarket chain insisted was not a marketing move, drew strong criticisms on social media and sparked memes that hijacked the concept.

Late on Tuesday Woolworths took down its Fresh in Our Memories website.

"We regret that our branding on the picture generator has caused offense, this was clearly never our intention," Woolworths said in a statement.

"Like many heritage Australian companies, we were marking our respect for ANZAC and our veterans.

"We continue to be proud supporters of the RSL and Camp Gallipoli in this important year and look forward to working with them into the future."



The campaign had allowed people to upload their own images of people affected or lost to war to a picture generator.

The generator then created an image that is emblazoned with the words "Lest we forget, Anzac 1915-2015".

At the bottom of the image the generator inserted the phrase "Fresh in our Memories" and a Woolworths logo.

Woolworths promotes itself as the "Fresh Food People" and the word "fresh" is heavily promoted by the supermarket chain.

"How dare you appropriate the image of an Anzac soldier to sell your wares in the way that you have," said a message to the Woolworths official Facebook page.

"Do you know who the soldier is? Did he survive? Or don't you even know or care? I actually feel quite ill," the message said.

The message was just one of many on social media attacking the supermarket chain's strategy.

The supermarket group's website had shown images of two men who appeared to be World War I diggers with the Woolworths logo covering part of them, and a picture of a woman who appears to be a nurse with the logo over part of her.

The supermarket giant had hoped people would use the generator to create images that could have been used in social media profile pictures.

"We encourage you to share a memory of someone you know who has been affected or lost to war, by changing your profile picture on social media to that person," Woolworths said on the website that was later taken down.

But the move sparked a strong response on social media.

"This marketing campaign is crass," said one of many tweets attacking the move.

Another likened the supermarket chain to "monsters".

"Is Anzac Day really a commercial opportunity?" said another tweet.

Woolworths said it was a national partner of the RSL and Camp Gallipoli.

"Our small logo on the site is in line with other corporately sponsored centenary of Anzac activity," the supermarket group said.

"'Fresh in our Memories' is not a marketing campaign," Woolworths said.

"As one of Australia's largest employers, Woolworths has spent months collecting stories from our staff for the site," it said.

Before the site was taken down many people hijacked the image generator to creates their own memes.

Topics: world-war-1, community-and-society, australia

First posted