Plaid Pantry

A Plaid Pantry parody account, using the handle @PlaidPantryInc and linking to Plaid Pantry's website, has been posting off-color tweets since July.

(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

"Construction delays on trimet are nothing an ice cold 24oz can of malt liquor in a paper sack can't fix."

How about that for a pinned tweet?

A Plaid Pantry parody account, using the handle @PlaidPantryInc and linking to Plaid Pantry's website, has been posting this and similar tweets since July.

The tweets encourage followers to stock up on cheap beer and snacks while warning of "homeless drug addicts" and "meth-heads."

The account also references current events, like Monday night's debate, lead-tainted drinking water at Portland Public Schools and the Springwater Corridor homeless sweep ordered by Portland Mayor Charlie Hales.

The tweets even included photos of robberies, fires and car accidents at Plaid Pantry stores.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the account had 147 followers, including the City of Beaverton and KPTV anchor Wayne Garcia. The account's description says it's unofficial, but that's easy to miss.

Plaid Pantry president Jonathan Polonsky said the Portland convenience store company isn't associated with the account. Plaid Pantry doesn't operate any social media accounts, he explained.

"It's obvious that it's nothing that our corporation would condone," he said of the tweets.

The company wasn't aware of the parody account until they were contacted today by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Polonsky said.

He has contacted Twitter and asked them to shut down the account, he said.

"When they start using our trademarked logo I'm sure we have leverage," he said. "We have no interest in participating in social media, but we don't want to be impersonated by somebody else."

Plaid Pantry has 110 locations, primarily in the Portland area, but also in the Seattle area, Vancouver and Salem.

We've reached out to the account owner, and we'll update this story if we hear back.

Update 2:22 p.m.

This was the response we received from the account:

-- Anna Marum

amarum@oregonian.com

503-294-5911

@annamarum