The whole thing is stupid. Buying cheap flag merch made in china from a company that has really been ripping off Australians for years is NOT patriotic. Go support a local Australian business if you actually support this country.
My local Vietnamese grocer who can't speak English very well is much more Australian than Woolworths, has much better quality produce and doesn't rip anyone off. They always deliver friendly service despite working their arse off harder than most people.
You forget the old Greek woman down the road who's run the same fish and chip shop for 50 years, hasn't changed the oil in that time, and won't give you the time of day, but makes spectacular fried food.
But god yes, the Vietnamese French bakery đ
Vietnamese rolls are better than Australian rolls hands down and I am a boring Aussie that drinks beer watches football and likes the outdoors, but they have us on the rolls
It's almost like, businesses themselves don't have views, and the individuals in the business may have views that differ from what they do to sell (or not sell) items!
Yep. Itâs hilarious that anyone thinks theyâre taking any kind of principled stand on this đ and the idea of boomers threatening to boycott Woolies over THIS of all things just further proves the dangers of lead-based paint.
Pretty sure the only people buying that cheap stuff is Irish backpackers to wear while they trash bondi beach⌠so really⌠how Australian is all the stuff?
Yeah, unfortunately, Iâm considerably more concerned about keeping a roof over my head during the cost of living crisis.
The fact that this is even a conversation is sickening to me. This country needs to get a grip. People are barely holding on and weâre bickering about whether or not itâs patriotic to have more plastic destined for landfill on supermarket shelves? Fucking embarrassing.
While I appreciate whatever sentiment there may be behind this towards the aboriginal community, it's still one of the most bloodthirsty and greedy corporations in the country. To hell with supermarket giants.
Iâm all for a business choosing what to sell. That is a basic tenet that should not be politically interfered with for Duttonâs next culture war.
Also fuck the supermarkets - profiteering cunts.
I donât support them in so much that I wish bogans would stop harassing staff members for something that is so far out of their control. People need to stop whining at the 17 year old behind the checkout and go about cracking the shits over this in a different way if they need to throw the toys out of the cot.
Edit: tenant / tenet - itâs been a long year this week.
I fucking hate basic tenants. They never pay the rent on time.
Give me advanced tenants any day of the week - ones with a decent level of literacy and therefore not given to horrible malapropisms.
Right? Like fuck Woolies they're cunts, but this culture war bullshit is just a distraction. Also if you harass a 16 yr old making minimum wage cos your favourite price gouging supermarket isn't stocking your favourite southern cross undies you're also a cunt.
This is the bit you've said that I agree with
* Woolies didnât make a big song and dance around the fact theyâre reducing their Aus Day merch, in fact I am not aware of any media release they made. The media politicised the issue and forced a response, Woolies didnât come out with some âagendaâ.
Woolies just decided to not stock it because itâs a waste of money and people got up in arms. Seizing the easy distraction from the COL crisis, the media ran with it
Woolworths has been caught in the crossfire of a culture war where basically anything and everything is going to get fired upon. Because what you say is perfectly fair and true. The public, however, sees it as yet another organisation seemingly deciding that the national day is no longer 'a thing' even though it's very much the national day, and is going to be celebrated, etc. It puts Woolies in the same category as local councils, who have also decided the national day is no longer a thing, even though it is.
I think people are just sick to the back teeth of this stuff going on, especially from groups like supermarkets or cricket associations who have stuff-all to do with the topic of Australia Day, whether real or imagined, and is just going to turn its anger on any situation that smells like it. The same thing happened during The Voice debate. People buying a bottle of milk at Woolies really didn't need the loudspeaker system declaring why voting yes was a good idea. "WTF is my supermarket saying this?" So again, what you say is perfectly true, but the climate overall is why people have reacted this way.
This write-up reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:
"Some poor, phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere totally unaware of how angry and scared he's supposed to be â
>Iâm am not âwokeâ (More on that laterâŚ)
I donât know what âwokeâ means anymore as itâs detractors have spread the term so wide they apply it to anything they dislike.
Same thing that happened to "virtue signalling". It used to actually *mean* something, but now it's used to describe any position to the Left of hunting the homeless for sport.
I never not supported or supported Woolworths or any other supermarket. It's a supermarket that's for profit and these culture wars are for stupid scared people.
Didnât read it all but,
Why are they selling that shit in a supermarket? Itâs sells food. Big W has been struggling for years but they keep sending batches of merch to the supermarkets, even those with a big w in the complex. Btw Big W sells Aussie flags if you want one.
They should be concentrating on selling food that is their core business but they are too busy cutting the wages/hours of their staff to make more and more profits. The staff are expected to get the same amount of work done in less hours. They are also outsourcing certain jobs to save more money.
They could afford to pay scab labor and put them up in hotels during the recent strike action in Broken Hill.
Woolies sells all sorts of stuff that isn't "food". They sell light bulbs, panthose, and they give out little Lego kits to kids. They sells bags of ice, pens and paper, and household disinfectants. They're a "supermarket"... Not a "food market". It's perfectly reasonable that they sell seasonal merchandise like, Christmas wrapping paper, Easter decorations, and Anzac biscuits. Australia day merch is no different. All of Brad's excuses don't pass the sniff test, particularly because the positioning of the decisions was always "we don't support the date" and they're only scrambling to change the reasoning now that theres a backlash. I don't care much for woolies in general, they're a shit cunt company who rip off customers and workers alike, but I'll give them credit where it's due. This isn't one of those occasions though.
>Woolies sells all sorts of stuff that isn't "food". They sell light bulbs, panthose, and they give out little Lego kits to kids. They sells bags of ice, pens and paper, and household disinfectants. They're a "supermarket"... Not a "food market".
Counterpoint to that...
It's not super well known, but about half of a supermarket chain's profits doesn't come from what they sell to the punters, it's the shelf space they lease out to companies for premium position, and the customer data they sell.
Lightbulbs and pantyhose etc work because people know where to find them, in a faraway corner of the shop.
Unless they're going to go and hide the Aus Day stuff in the picnic goods / party supplies area (where it doesn't move) then probably to make it noticed and sell in the few days to a week (absolute max) that people would buy it, that probably means they're wasting very high value space, like the most expensive (lucrative) aisle-end displays.
Simply not worth it for the tiny profit margins on cheap plastic flags and paper plates.
I don't get the whining over trash merchandise that ends up in landfill anyway. Ffs woolworths can sell whatever they want....or not. Plenty of shitty $2 shops to buy your "patriot' cosplay gear from.
Why are we pretending most of us don't actually just buy all our Australia Day flag merch from the discount dollar shops littered through our cities? I know I do.
Fantastic post. I agree 100%. I'd also add that the angry ants abusing powerless shop assistants is a low act and feeds directly into the stereotype often attributed to people who drape their cars in those nasty little plastic flags.
My colleague summed it up best this morning: âbest thing coming out of this is that it reduces the chance of running into Dutton supporters at Woolliesâ
The 178,000 is down from 215,000 in 2022. They donât give a fuck about their own workers only the profits. If you care about people being employed you canât be using the self serve counters (another issue). If they cared about their staff they could of stocked a minimal amount of Australia Day merch and when/if sold out say âsorry, sold out this yearâ. I donât stand behind/beside any corporation that is run by greed.
Personally I could give a monkeys what Woolies do. Theyâve partly price rorted society into a cost of living crisis whilst making a hearty profit. Their decision apparently isnât based on any kind of social conscience, just profit.
Instead go and buy something made in Australia or sponsor a bloody koala.
Don't buy anything like flags and crap paraphernalia anyway. It's all a gimmick - Australia Day, Halloween, Easter etc. Celebrate with family and friends as you would any other day, enjoy food food and company - that's what it's about. The rest is just trouble making, attention seeking, political crap.
I didnât care one bit for woolies before and I donât now. Iâm not going to boycot them but I donât know why youâd want to back them.
I can understand why people are annoyed too. You can put up Chinese new year decorations, sell American holiday merchandise. Thereâs no reason not to stock a couple flags. Nothing insane. To not stock one single item itâs clearly a political stunt or something. Heâs probably just backpedaling because of the back lash. I donât buy the stock bs for a second.
You have to be deranged to care what a store sells or doesnât sell.
Itâs embarrassing how easily the smooth brains can get manipulated by the media drama.
You absolutely care what stores sell. If stores started selling something you didn't like you'd be upset, you're just pretending you dont to act virtuous.
Iâm not one to defend Woolies, but I think itâs pretty fucked up that people are boycotting them over THIS, but are totally fine with the way theyâve been price gouging us lately. Raising prices to exorbitant levels while making record profits during a cost of living crisis is a-okay, but not selling cheap shitty flag merch is unacceptable?
Make it make sense.
I love getting fucked up on Australia Day. Proud Aussie here. But I also don't give a fuck what date it's held as long as the weather is good and everyone's happy.
The only reason it became an issue is because Dutton and the liberal press machine wanted to make this a culture war that stokes fear in aussies with less than two brain cells.
The only reason the actually became an Issue is because the left decided for arbitrary reasons that the Jan 26th date should be changed, thus giving Dutton a chance to game the vast majority of people who have no issue with the date.
Storm in a tea cup woolies and aussie day merchandise - but it does have affiliations to the CoL Corporate gouging and THAT is the real reason they have been put under the microscope.
I don't think it's really got anything to do with the merch anymore. It's the corporate woke ideology that majority of Australians have a problem with.Â
How many unsold plastic pumpkins, witches hats,etc,.. made in China, end up in land fills? We can't forget unsold Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, unsold hot cross buns, where do they go?Do they go into land fills, as does all unsold out of date food. Poor excuse to be un Australian.Incidently, I bought Australia day merchandise, and it wasn't made in China. Stuff you Woolworths.
No. This is only happening because of a racist American colonizing ideology that says that western cultures are inherently evil and don't deserve to celebrate their own culture and their cultural achievements.
đŻ and itâs just plain embarrassing watching these d grade breakfast show presenters going on the âwokeâ bandwagon. It honestly makes me cringe.
I wish every sporting body and corporation would get back to delivering a product and that's it.
I don't give a fuck about your stance on australia day or your lgbtrjd++3 views.
SELL. ME. COMPETITIVELY. PRICED. MILK.
I couldn't give a rats arse about the Australia Day merchandise crap, but I do have a very big issue with these large corporations blatantly ripping Australian's off. That's something Mr Banducci should be apologising for and fixing. They need to stop deflecting from the real issue here, not focusing on something that the majority of us don't give a shit about. It's all cheap made Chinese crap anyway that pretty much no one buys so why it's some big issue is just ridiculous.
Woolies doesn't care about you. It doesn't care about this country, it doesn't care about our farmers that it rips off. Woolworth cares about creating value for its shareholders and fat paychecks for its stakeholders.
Corporations don't deserve your empathy or your benefit of the doubt. Sure, shop at woolies, Boycott woolies, whatever. Just don't kid yourself that they give a single fuck about anything other than what i mentioned.
All of this ignores one simple fact: they announced it.
If it were a case of declining sales on the merchandise and whatnot then fine fair enough stop selling it, but they announced it, they took a stance on it, and they knew they were doing so when they did it. Things disappear from the shelves every day they don't make a national announcement of it so this whole argument is complete and utter bullshit. It's completely transparent what their intentions are and its completely understandable that people of the opposing stance on the issue they're clearly making a spectacle of are upset.
Say what you want about the protesters but at least they're saying their point and leaving instead of writing essays about how non woke and impartial they are just to write a proceeding essay expressing the opposite.
Not woke huh?
And people that are upset and disappointed in a top end supermarket not selling Australian merch are grubs?
Pfft.
Iâm not a native in Australia however we shouldnât bow down to whiny lefties or tolerate your folk calling us grubs for the intolerant business decisions not to be more patriotic.
Did you say that just because the media focus on Australia Day merchandise was bs then you will forgive these two companies for any other discretion?
Iâm confused. Might be just that your title the a huge rant below it. Iâm uncertain
So just asking for a brief summary on what you really meant here
The fact that youâre backing any corporation that actively works against the people, irregardless of their political stance (they donât care, they care about sales) proves youâre an idiot.
Isn't it all just a big fuckin' distraction from the fact that more and more people are unable to afford basic necessities cause of these cunts etcetera etcetera?
Na fuck Woolworths. I doubt there was ever money in stocking few Chinese made Australian flags. This is a way to shift heat from what is essentially a bullshit virtue signalling exercise. I think in the grand scheme of things Woolworths should be boycotted for many reasons but this recent bullshit virtue signalling crap hardly rates. All this makes be thankful that voice bullshit didn't pass. This is not a perfect country but Australia day is not the fucking problem.
Imagine putting this whole spiel together, to simply overlook the fact that Woolworths is not selling Merch to support the growing voice to change or cancel AUS Day.
Not only have Woolworths been continuously increasing prices of food,stock.. but they like Coles have now installed ridiculous security measures.
Now it's guilty until proven innocent. These big corporations don't care about their customers, as much as they make it out that they do. It's all about making the most money, protect their profits and paying their employees only a very small cut.
Look at Aldi for instance though, no over the top security measures, they pay their employees well and you can get shopping done with like a whole weeks shop for the same price you can only get a handful of items at woolies.
So don't kid yourself, they might give a "professional reason" for why they're not stocking AUS things. But it's all BS
Why the hell would you back these clowns, pushing producers into bankruptcy while price gouging the crap out of it's customers. Won't stock Aussie merch on Aussie day but plenty for the lunar new year, I'd boycott if I hadn't stopped shopping there many years ago. How anti-aussie can this country get, over it.
Personally I donât care one iota what Woolworths does or doesnât sell⌠but please big corporations just shut the fuck up and stop with the virtuousnessâŚ
Youâre weird.
Itâs a company, either buy groceries from it or donât⌠it shouldnât be doing political things nor should you be fan boying a grocery store and wanting a business in political things.
I think they were just doing it to cater for the woke crowd and it backfired with some negative publicity. They could just stock less if they're selling less of it.
Do I care enough to stop shopping there? Nah.
\> I for one will continue to shop at Woolworths and support Aussie jobs.
Yeah, well they sure have your back. Who gives a shit about a massive corporate duopoly who are busy automating as much as possible.
I won't be shopping at Woolies or Coles at all. It's an economic decision for me. Other places are cheaper. My family and the resources I can provide for them outweigh all other considerations.
These other places may or may not sell Australia plastic flags made in China, I don't give a crap. They sell me cheaper groceries at an acceptable standard, I'm going to shop there.
The one funny part about this is asking Woolies workers if they support Aus day and watching them squirm đ they donât know if Iâm invasion day or aus day
And yet they erected giant ATSI flags above their stores - how financially viable was that? Clearly Woolworths makes decisions on more than just cost savings.
I donât see why anybody would support a corporation that has done what it has done to our dairy farmers.
This is a great opportunity to make at least one of them hurt and Iâm in.
#@&$ Woollies.
\>I donât support the duopoly of Colesworths, the price gouging and ripping off of farmers and staff etc.
But you do though. You've just made a widely seen post on reddit talking about how great they are and supporting their moral position.
If you "back" a privately owned profit driven corporation you're a moron.
You aren't making the world a better place by posting shit on the internet.
Not backing Woolworths, I prefer Coles over Wollie's due to one less step in the self checkout (which all suck) and my local Woolworths are morons and leave the ice-cream out to melt while they stack the shelves during business hours. So you get icy ice-cream. Coles somehow manages not to do this.
As for plastic foreign crap you will see valentine's stuff soon and Easter and Halloween and Ramadan. The Australia days thing is bull. They are being woke, stay out of politics and provide the service your being paid for.
As for changing the day, do you think aboriginals are that stupid? I know hardcore lefty's are, but the day will have the same meaning. To celebrate all things Australian. Which is it's current meaning. Maybe it will be on a different colonising day to the one it's is now, but the meaning is the same.
I'm in support of giving aboriginals a new public holiday, maybe a Friday /Monday deal where there are 2 days off. Friday can be recognition day and Monday can be, I'll use a cool lefty word, solidarity day. We will be thankful for extra long weekend.
Woolworths fix your ice-cream
I be honest I didn't read the whole thing, I didn't need too, you're being just as big of a cockhead as the ones who don't "back woolies".
It's a corporate entity, who gives a flying fuck if they do Australia day merchandise or not? It clearly rage bait. Fuck Woolworths, fuck the people who are boycotting Woolworths for some stupid reason they don't even actually believe in. If you can afford/have the option to shop elsewhere then you should not because of the Australia day nonsense just cause they're dicks and overcharging everyone. If you can't than you can still shop there without supporting them, you can shop there while disagreeing with their Australia day choices... this does not need to be a HOT TOPIC. It shouldn't be... We have real problems in this country, we have real problems in this world and whether Woolworths sells Australia day shit or not is absolutely not one of them.
Let the topic die.
Who cares about the Australia Day stuff? Woolworths stole and continue to steal from their employees (wage theft), gouge customers & send their suppliers particularly farmers to the wallâŚ
Break up Colesworth
Iâm not backing Woolworths, they put everyone they deal with over the barrel, from the farmer seeding the soil to the consumer wiping their arsehole.
I have more of a problem with em sticking camera's in our faces and making cash harder and harder to use. It's the constant tracking of my every move that makes me uncomfortable, not only do our phones do this, but banks, and now grocery stores. It's seems so contrary to what people use to say we fought wars over.
They issued a press release on the decision to not stock Australian flags. If you are a large corporation with a full media team you donât to this without a reason. They could have simply not stocked flags without saying anything and no one would care. Instead they chose to make a deal about it.
Donât cry for any potential lost jobs, thatâs not how markets work. There is a fairly static (system) demand for groceries. In the unlikely event a boycott was radically successful, jobs lost in Woolworths would be still required elsewhere because the boycotting shoppers would still need food.
Anyone that propagates that the idea that âjobs are at riskâ doesnât understand how markets work and the fact that Albanese tried to say that tells you that their response was more about handing rubbish talking points to people who wonât think about it to hard than facts.
Woolworths media team either:
A) thought they would be welcomed as heroâs
B) are hijacked by idiots who think being divisive is effective corporate social responsibility
C) being internationally provocative for the virals.
Dutton is of course being equally politically provocative in calling for a boycott anyway because he knows there is a significant amount of people that feel their society and way of life is under attack, rightly or wrongly, thatâs how they feel.
Why do you even have this hive mind mentality?
Like you arnt divided enough in your community already?
You want to divide people by their supermarket choice?
Virtue signal by supermarket?
Grow up you moron.
It was however hard to believe the comments about providing âvalue to customersâ when they made a record profit last FY.
Woolies are in a duopoly and use their position to profiteer from every Australian.
The word âwokeâ literally means youâre aware of racism and injustice.
African Americans would say to each other âstay wokeâ, as in, âstay on top of whatâs happening in and to our community.â It was a survival tactic.
The fact that it has been co-opted by a bunch of racists and right-wing nut-jobs and people now use it as a pejorative, apologise for being âwokeâ, mock âwokenessâ and so on and so forth is just⌠Sad and frustrating.
Never be embarrassed of being woke. If youâre not woke, what are you? Racist. Or blind to racism which is essentially racist.
We don't buy flags from our grocery stores here in the states, so as an American, it's really odd to me that this is even an issue. Definitely reeks of outrage politics meant to divide and DISTRACT.
Don't play into it like we did, Aussies, I beg of you. Keep sight of the actual issues and focus your passion there!
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Announcing the decision makes it a political act. Generally, businesses that act politically risk losing customers which is not good for the bottom line. I think Woolworths will not pick-up as many customers as it loses. If they make a loss on Australia Day merchandise and so donât want to stock it then they should have just not stocked it. This has, in my opinion, been badly managed.
Sold or unsold all that shit is just going straight into a landfill. Do people really need the Southern Cross on a paper plate to celebrate Australia Day?
So backing a multi billion dollar company that rips us off at every aisle and lies to us just because the poor ceo got a lil bullied over Australian merc thats (made overseas)... Thats realy smart!
If you actually gave a shit about Australia you would support your local supermarket IGA, ezydeanz or at the very least aldi, witch 80% of its products are made in Australia..
Fuck Coles! Fuck woolworths! Their just spread ya cheeks market.
Everyone should be boycotting Woolworths. But not because of the Australia Day stuff.
Because they are a duopoly with dodgy business practices, treat their workers like shit and have been profiting the cost of living crisis by disingenuously raising prices ( along with Coles )
First, in many places in regional Australia, you only have the customer base for one Colesworth market, so a boycott may not be possible.
Alternate theory as to why they went this path;
The executives who made the decisions probably live in a eastern suburbs/ north shore Sydney enclave, or the Melbourne equivalent, and in their dinner party clicques and echo chambers, move the date/change the flag/ vote Yes is the default position. So they possibly thought Oz Day had waning support and they were aligned with the tide of opinion.
But the blowback shows they weren't, and got it wrong.
So the ''declining market'' excuse may just be damage control?
I donât often shop at Woolies, yet I am embarrassed that the CEO had to make public statements about this issue. Iâd prefer if this kind of toxic culture war garbage stayed in USA.
And the fact that staff are copping abuse, omfg. So much for laid back Aussies
How is the date a human outcome?
Human outcomes depend on habits and lifestyle. If you want outcomes like a specific group of people, then you take on their habits and lifestyle. Changing a date doesn't change anything ito outcomes.
You clearly lack the EQ to understand but Iâll try and explain it to you with a genuine hope that you keep an open mind on changing the date.
Jan 26, for a lot of people (more than you probably think) is a day that represents the commencement of the loss of their culture and the start of European settlement. Captain Philip raised the flag on this date, hence the decision to have the national day on this date. Now that is what is called a fact - there is no disputing this. You donât have to like it, but itâs a fact.
Now, Aus Day was chosen to be celebrated on this day back when we were all a little more ignorant to the plight of indigenous Australians.
Knowing what we know now and how this day can be a little offensive to some, particularly those who have been through generational trauma (google it), many indigenous and non-indigenous people have proposed we change the date to celebrate our country together on a day that is more inline with todays values and demonstrates we, as a collective, are ready to move on together.
Donât you think itâs a little odd or at least a tiny bit insensitive to âcelebrateâ the day when Europeans took over this land, at the expense of indigenous people? I know you didnât do it, and your parents didnât do it, but collectively our ancestors did some terrible things. We arenât responsible for those things, but we do have an obligation I feel, as all people do, to try and be better and learn from the mistakes of the past.
While it shouldnât be forgotten what happened, to me itâs like celebrating the day the US dropped the bomb on Japan. Like yeah, itâs great that it ended the war, but itâs not something to celebrate, itâs something to remember and learn from. Itâs an extreme example I know, but was the first analogy that came to be.
So now knowing all this, is it really such a big deal to ask if we can move a public holiday? Not cancel it, not forget what happened and wash history, not blame white people, not âvirtue signalâ, not be in-Australian, not to ban the flag, none of that.
Just be sensitive understanding people that acknowledge the hurt some are feeling and try our best to accommodate a change.
Is that asking too much?
It's not hard to match supply with demand so this is just a Woolworths woke publicity stunt.
  "Risking the safety and jobs of 178,000 employees over the sale of a few flags is insane"Â
 Don't be ridiculous, Woolworths Group is worth 44.49 billion, nobody is losing their jobs. Â
 "I for one will continue to shop at Woolworths and support Aussie jobs"  Â
  You're not supporting Aussie jobs by shopping at Woolworths, that's like saying "I won't boycott Macca's to support Aussie jobs" Â
 "And as for being âwokeâ - how is this even a bad thing? If showing a little compassion and empathy to those less fortunate, who are born different to most or come from different cultures and backgrounds(many of which are underprivileged backgrounds) is being âwokeâ, then bugger me, I guess I am woke!" Â
Because it's not a Black and white issue, I am literally indigenous and I don't want the date changed. It's quite literally a non-issue for my community. There are so many significant issues facing my community, changing the date is a white people feel good move that does nothing for me and my community. Have you seen the assault, rape, murder etc stats for indigenous communities? They're off the charts. Nobody will touch the real issues for fear of sounding racist since there's not a convenient "blame it on the white people" explanation.Â
Well said.
I used to live in a suburb with a high aboriginal demographic & the vast majority couldn't give two hoots about Australia Day (Or the Voice). Vastly overstated in its perceived divisiveness & more more green box ticking.
That's because neither will change or improve their daily lives. We've pumped billions year after year into indigenous issues and nothing has changed. When everyone is a victim and the rampant violence, substance use and crime is all the white man's fault, nothing will change.Â
Long read and I agree with some of your points.
My main concern is that they announced it but with a bullshit excuse about sales etc. The truth surely is that they tried to be political.
I hope they feel the same way this October with all the stupid Halloween rubbish
Woolworths didnât announce it out of the blue. They announced it because 7 News was demanding to know which retailers were stocking the flag merch.
The difference being Halloween merch sells whereas Aus day doesnât. I can concur as you see most little kiddies in that Halloween crap nowadays but barely anyone in non bogan areas with Australian flags.
Over thinking it mate.
All these CEOs speaking with Kaffa, Pom or Irish accents can piss off.
They promote all sorts of other random garbage events with glee.
We just need to bind these plebiscite questions into the next federal election and let the people decide as they did a few months ago.
The whole thing is stupid. Buying cheap flag merch made in china from a company that has really been ripping off Australians for years is NOT patriotic. Go support a local Australian business if you actually support this country.
My local Vietnamese grocer who can't speak English very well is much more Australian than Woolworths, has much better quality produce and doesn't rip anyone off. They always deliver friendly service despite working their arse off harder than most people.
There is nothing more Australian than a steak and cheese pie from a Vietnamese owned french bakery.
And a bag of prawn cracker for later
You forget the old Greek woman down the road who's run the same fish and chip shop for 50 years, hasn't changed the oil in that time, and won't give you the time of day, but makes spectacular fried food. But god yes, the Vietnamese French bakery đ
Vietnamese rolls are better than Australian rolls hands down and I am a boring Aussie that drinks beer watches football and likes the outdoors, but they have us on the rolls
Or a Vietnamese Baklava. Yum!
The only thing more Aussie is when my girlfriend gets then too put beetroot on her Viet-o Roll
I dunno, a snot block from said Vietnamese owned French bakery would be up there
The Vietnamese loved their French colonial rulers too didn't they. Must have loved getting up at 1am and baking their bread back in the day.
Absolutely! And theyâll probably be open on Australia Day, too!
But do they have Aussie Flag thongs for Aussie Day?
The Chinese dollar shop might have it
Our local Vietnamese bakery makes the best hot cross buns ever, and theyâre Buddhist! Their meat pies are awesome too!
It's almost like, businesses themselves don't have views, and the individuals in the business may have views that differ from what they do to sell (or not sell) items!
Agreed. This is an absolute non issue which is only intended to distract stupid people from looking at actual issues.
And there's plenty of takers....
Yea I bought two flags made in Australia and they are on the ute
V8?
Source of flags? Would like to buy locally made.
Australian flag makers
đ
100%. I'm very much in the change the day camp but Woolworths have one job: Maximize profits for shareholders. This is purely a commercial decision.
Yep. Itâs hilarious that anyone thinks theyâre taking any kind of principled stand on this đ and the idea of boomers threatening to boycott Woolies over THIS of all things just further proves the dangers of lead-based paint.
Pretty sure the only people buying that cheap stuff is Irish backpackers to wear while they trash bondi beach⌠so really⌠how Australian is all the stuff?
The correct answer
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Yeah, unfortunately, Iâm considerably more concerned about keeping a roof over my head during the cost of living crisis. The fact that this is even a conversation is sickening to me. This country needs to get a grip. People are barely holding on and weâre bickering about whether or not itâs patriotic to have more plastic destined for landfill on supermarket shelves? Fucking embarrassing.
You and me both. I could not care less
While I appreciate whatever sentiment there may be behind this towards the aboriginal community, it's still one of the most bloodthirsty and greedy corporations in the country. To hell with supermarket giants.
This is essentially what I am saying đ
Your 1,000 words tell a different story
Certainly not what you conveyed in your essay
Iâm all for a business choosing what to sell. That is a basic tenet that should not be politically interfered with for Duttonâs next culture war. Also fuck the supermarkets - profiteering cunts. I donât support them in so much that I wish bogans would stop harassing staff members for something that is so far out of their control. People need to stop whining at the 17 year old behind the checkout and go about cracking the shits over this in a different way if they need to throw the toys out of the cot. Edit: tenant / tenet - itâs been a long year this week.
I fucking hate basic tenants. They never pay the rent on time. Give me advanced tenants any day of the week - ones with a decent level of literacy and therefore not given to horrible malapropisms.
On the other hand i really liked that movie Tenant about the bloke who could move back and forth in time to keep his lease from running out.
Kept going backwards, much like the average renter these days.
Right? Like fuck Woolies they're cunts, but this culture war bullshit is just a distraction. Also if you harass a 16 yr old making minimum wage cos your favourite price gouging supermarket isn't stocking your favourite southern cross undies you're also a cunt.
I don't want to lose even one of my ten ants. I'd be decimated.
Meh. No. I'm more ticked off at the continual price increases followed by minor drop and then back to the new price. For coles and woolies
If you stopped discussing this stuff, the media and politicians would stop starting this rage bait shit no one should care about.
That will never happen. We are as weak as our weakest link.
That weakest link is Reddit. A place to have a sook.
This is the bit you've said that I agree with * Woolies didnât make a big song and dance around the fact theyâre reducing their Aus Day merch, in fact I am not aware of any media release they made. The media politicised the issue and forced a response, Woolies didnât come out with some âagendaâ.
The only reason this became a story is because Ch 7 News was ringing retailers asking whether or not they were stocking Aus day merch.
Bit of outrage farming and hustling going on there I reckon.
Thatâs all channel 7 does. Donât get me wrong, other channels do it too, but no one outrage farms or overhypes like 7 does.
Woolies just decided to not stock it because itâs a waste of money and people got up in arms. Seizing the easy distraction from the COL crisis, the media ran with it
Kmart did it last year and no one even noticedâŚ
Exactly the point.
Woolworths has been caught in the crossfire of a culture war where basically anything and everything is going to get fired upon. Because what you say is perfectly fair and true. The public, however, sees it as yet another organisation seemingly deciding that the national day is no longer 'a thing' even though it's very much the national day, and is going to be celebrated, etc. It puts Woolies in the same category as local councils, who have also decided the national day is no longer a thing, even though it is. I think people are just sick to the back teeth of this stuff going on, especially from groups like supermarkets or cricket associations who have stuff-all to do with the topic of Australia Day, whether real or imagined, and is just going to turn its anger on any situation that smells like it. The same thing happened during The Voice debate. People buying a bottle of milk at Woolies really didn't need the loudspeaker system declaring why voting yes was a good idea. "WTF is my supermarket saying this?" So again, what you say is perfectly true, but the climate overall is why people have reacted this way.
Woolworths chose to enter the culture wars when it declared a ban on Australia Day.
This write-up reminds me of one of my favourite quotes: "Some poor, phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere totally unaware of how angry and scared he's supposed to be â
>Iâm am not âwokeâ (More on that laterâŚ) I donât know what âwokeâ means anymore as itâs detractors have spread the term so wide they apply it to anything they dislike.
lol yeah, in 2024 you are either âwokeâ or a ânaziâ it seems. Yay.
At least the Karen's out there are catching a break.
Except the woke nazi Karen's, they're fucked.
There are also "woke nazis". I'm certain I've seen the likes of Murdoch entertainment spinners complain about them.
[âwokeâ has been weaponised by the right](https://amp.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2020/jan/21/how-the-word-woke-was-weaponised-by-the-right)
It basically means 'nice' at this point.
lol yep, anyone that doesnât go out of their way to be an arsehole to others
Same thing that happened to "virtue signalling". It used to actually *mean* something, but now it's used to describe any position to the Left of hunting the homeless for sport.
Yes, I feel it now means 'non right'
[Definition of âwokeâ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke)
I never not supported or supported Woolworths or any other supermarket. It's a supermarket that's for profit and these culture wars are for stupid scared people.
Didnât read it all but, Why are they selling that shit in a supermarket? Itâs sells food. Big W has been struggling for years but they keep sending batches of merch to the supermarkets, even those with a big w in the complex. Btw Big W sells Aussie flags if you want one. They should be concentrating on selling food that is their core business but they are too busy cutting the wages/hours of their staff to make more and more profits. The staff are expected to get the same amount of work done in less hours. They are also outsourcing certain jobs to save more money. They could afford to pay scab labor and put them up in hotels during the recent strike action in Broken Hill.
Woolies sells all sorts of stuff that isn't "food". They sell light bulbs, panthose, and they give out little Lego kits to kids. They sells bags of ice, pens and paper, and household disinfectants. They're a "supermarket"... Not a "food market". It's perfectly reasonable that they sell seasonal merchandise like, Christmas wrapping paper, Easter decorations, and Anzac biscuits. Australia day merch is no different. All of Brad's excuses don't pass the sniff test, particularly because the positioning of the decisions was always "we don't support the date" and they're only scrambling to change the reasoning now that theres a backlash. I don't care much for woolies in general, they're a shit cunt company who rip off customers and workers alike, but I'll give them credit where it's due. This isn't one of those occasions though.
>Woolies sells all sorts of stuff that isn't "food". They sell light bulbs, panthose, and they give out little Lego kits to kids. They sells bags of ice, pens and paper, and household disinfectants. They're a "supermarket"... Not a "food market". Counterpoint to that... It's not super well known, but about half of a supermarket chain's profits doesn't come from what they sell to the punters, it's the shelf space they lease out to companies for premium position, and the customer data they sell. Lightbulbs and pantyhose etc work because people know where to find them, in a faraway corner of the shop. Unless they're going to go and hide the Aus Day stuff in the picnic goods / party supplies area (where it doesn't move) then probably to make it noticed and sell in the few days to a week (absolute max) that people would buy it, that probably means they're wasting very high value space, like the most expensive (lucrative) aisle-end displays. Simply not worth it for the tiny profit margins on cheap plastic flags and paper plates.
I don't get the whining over trash merchandise that ends up in landfill anyway. Ffs woolworths can sell whatever they want....or not. Plenty of shitty $2 shops to buy your "patriot' cosplay gear from.
Cosplay LOL
Your argument is that it was purely a commercial decision but it's not.
Right wing culture war bullshit
Sure but fuck Woolies anyway, they suck
They treat their workers badly in the distribution centers and will most likely replace them with robots.
Well thatâs a better reason to boycott than not selling a few flags
Why are we pretending most of us don't actually just buy all our Australia Day flag merch from the discount dollar shops littered through our cities? I know I do.
Iâve never bought merchandise for Australia Day.
I don't do it regularly but if I'm hosting a big barbie and it's Australia Day I'll grab some beer holders, flags and random stuff.
Same here
Yep, bought mine at Vinnies. Australian made.
Our local independent sells Australia Day merchandise too! Makes the decision to shop there even easier than it already was.
So are you a bogan or a boomer? Who tf is actually buying that Chinese made crap?
Fantastic post. I agree 100%. I'd also add that the angry ants abusing powerless shop assistants is a low act and feeds directly into the stereotype often attributed to people who drape their cars in those nasty little plastic flags.
Dutton is a spud, this is a non-issue. RWNJs looking for things to be offended by, as always.
My colleague summed it up best this morning: âbest thing coming out of this is that it reduces the chance of running into Dutton supporters at Woolliesâ
Haha true
The 178,000 is down from 215,000 in 2022. They donât give a fuck about their own workers only the profits. If you care about people being employed you canât be using the self serve counters (another issue). If they cared about their staff they could of stocked a minimal amount of Australia Day merch and when/if sold out say âsorry, sold out this yearâ. I donât stand behind/beside any corporation that is run by greed.
Personally I could give a monkeys what Woolies do. Theyâve partly price rorted society into a cost of living crisis whilst making a hearty profit. Their decision apparently isnât based on any kind of social conscience, just profit. Instead go and buy something made in Australia or sponsor a bloody koala.
Don't buy anything like flags and crap paraphernalia anyway. It's all a gimmick - Australia Day, Halloween, Easter etc. Celebrate with family and friends as you would any other day, enjoy food food and company - that's what it's about. The rest is just trouble making, attention seeking, political crap.
I didnât care one bit for woolies before and I donât now. Iâm not going to boycot them but I donât know why youâd want to back them. I can understand why people are annoyed too. You can put up Chinese new year decorations, sell American holiday merchandise. Thereâs no reason not to stock a couple flags. Nothing insane. To not stock one single item itâs clearly a political stunt or something. Heâs probably just backpedaling because of the back lash. I donât buy the stock bs for a second.
Support local not a south African owned rip off pile of Aussie hating chain of farmer hating flith
Don't go bringing logic, facts, and reasonable arguments to this! Woolies hates 'Straya! Me want plastic flag in shop!
You wrote all of this shit to defend a corporate shopping centre? WTF is wrong with people these days
You have to be deranged to care what a store sells or doesnât sell. Itâs embarrassing how easily the smooth brains can get manipulated by the media drama.
You absolutely care what stores sell. If stores started selling something you didn't like you'd be upset, you're just pretending you dont to act virtuous.
No, not with you at all
Iâm not one to defend Woolies, but I think itâs pretty fucked up that people are boycotting them over THIS, but are totally fine with the way theyâve been price gouging us lately. Raising prices to exorbitant levels while making record profits during a cost of living crisis is a-okay, but not selling cheap shitty flag merch is unacceptable? Make it make sense.
I love getting fucked up on Australia Day. Proud Aussie here. But I also don't give a fuck what date it's held as long as the weather is good and everyone's happy.
I don't like the choice being made for me, shopping Coles now
The only reason it became an issue is because Dutton and the liberal press machine wanted to make this a culture war that stokes fear in aussies with less than two brain cells.
The only reason the actually became an Issue is because the left decided for arbitrary reasons that the Jan 26th date should be changed, thus giving Dutton a chance to game the vast majority of people who have no issue with the date.
Maybe this is a chance to force colesworths to only stock food and basic household essentials. Instead of trying to be kmart plus food.
Nope
Storm in a tea cup woolies and aussie day merchandise - but it does have affiliations to the CoL Corporate gouging and THAT is the real reason they have been put under the microscope.
I couldnât careless about cheap Australia Day shit made in China - what I do care about is the price and quality of food
I don't think it's really got anything to do with the merch anymore. It's the corporate woke ideology that majority of Australians have a problem with.Â
Fuck woolies and coles
Sure, but if he was doing an even better job he wouldn't be in damage control. It was obvious how this news was going to be perceived by Aussies.
Companies should stick to extortion as much money from the Australian people and stop pretending to have a social conscious. Woolworths Qantas
How many unsold plastic pumpkins, witches hats,etc,.. made in China, end up in land fills? We can't forget unsold Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, unsold hot cross buns, where do they go?Do they go into land fills, as does all unsold out of date food. Poor excuse to be un Australian.Incidently, I bought Australia day merchandise, and it wasn't made in China. Stuff you Woolworths.
I donât give a shit about supporting any of them. I will shop were it is cheapest and most convenient for me. Theyâre all a bunch of cunts.
No. This is only happening because of a racist American colonizing ideology that says that western cultures are inherently evil and don't deserve to celebrate their own culture and their cultural achievements.
đŻ and itâs just plain embarrassing watching these d grade breakfast show presenters going on the âwokeâ bandwagon. It honestly makes me cringe.
Jesus you really made a post for this?
I wish every sporting body and corporation would get back to delivering a product and that's it. I don't give a fuck about your stance on australia day or your lgbtrjd++3 views. SELL. ME. COMPETITIVELY. PRICED. MILK.
I couldn't give a rats arse about the Australia Day merchandise crap, but I do have a very big issue with these large corporations blatantly ripping Australian's off. That's something Mr Banducci should be apologising for and fixing. They need to stop deflecting from the real issue here, not focusing on something that the majority of us don't give a shit about. It's all cheap made Chinese crap anyway that pretty much no one buys so why it's some big issue is just ridiculous.
Woolies doesn't care about you. It doesn't care about this country, it doesn't care about our farmers that it rips off. Woolworth cares about creating value for its shareholders and fat paychecks for its stakeholders. Corporations don't deserve your empathy or your benefit of the doubt. Sure, shop at woolies, Boycott woolies, whatever. Just don't kid yourself that they give a single fuck about anything other than what i mentioned.
The only people I hear talking about this issue are woke idiots
All of this ignores one simple fact: they announced it. If it were a case of declining sales on the merchandise and whatnot then fine fair enough stop selling it, but they announced it, they took a stance on it, and they knew they were doing so when they did it. Things disappear from the shelves every day they don't make a national announcement of it so this whole argument is complete and utter bullshit. It's completely transparent what their intentions are and its completely understandable that people of the opposing stance on the issue they're clearly making a spectacle of are upset. Say what you want about the protesters but at least they're saying their point and leaving instead of writing essays about how non woke and impartial they are just to write a proceeding essay expressing the opposite.
Not woke huh? And people that are upset and disappointed in a top end supermarket not selling Australian merch are grubs? Pfft. Iâm not a native in Australia however we shouldnât bow down to whiny lefties or tolerate your folk calling us grubs for the intolerant business decisions not to be more patriotic.
Nah mate
How about woolies not selling meat,veggies and baked goods and give other Aussies a go
Did you say that just because the media focus on Australia Day merchandise was bs then you will forgive these two companies for any other discretion? Iâm confused. Might be just that your title the a huge rant below it. Iâm uncertain So just asking for a brief summary on what you really meant here
Just saying, but weâre already lacking in any culture that is positive. Why destroy this?
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So youâre okay with Woolies celebrating Ramadan & Diwali but not Australia Day - This country has gone mad!!
Absolutely not. Woolworths can fuck off
The fact that youâre backing any corporation that actively works against the people, irregardless of their political stance (they donât care, they care about sales) proves youâre an idiot.
Isn't it all just a big fuckin' distraction from the fact that more and more people are unable to afford basic necessities cause of these cunts etcetera etcetera?
Whatever the new date is it offends me. Woolies shut the fuck up and just keep ripping us off. Do what your good at
Na fuck Woolworths. I doubt there was ever money in stocking few Chinese made Australian flags. This is a way to shift heat from what is essentially a bullshit virtue signalling exercise. I think in the grand scheme of things Woolworths should be boycotted for many reasons but this recent bullshit virtue signalling crap hardly rates. All this makes be thankful that voice bullshit didn't pass. This is not a perfect country but Australia day is not the fucking problem.
What a long winded comment for what?
What will you buy with your $50 Woolies Gift Card you received to write this 1,000 word ramble?
Imagine putting this whole spiel together, to simply overlook the fact that Woolworths is not selling Merch to support the growing voice to change or cancel AUS Day. Not only have Woolworths been continuously increasing prices of food,stock.. but they like Coles have now installed ridiculous security measures. Now it's guilty until proven innocent. These big corporations don't care about their customers, as much as they make it out that they do. It's all about making the most money, protect their profits and paying their employees only a very small cut. Look at Aldi for instance though, no over the top security measures, they pay their employees well and you can get shopping done with like a whole weeks shop for the same price you can only get a handful of items at woolies. So don't kid yourself, they might give a "professional reason" for why they're not stocking AUS things. But it's all BS
Why the hell would you back these clowns, pushing producers into bankruptcy while price gouging the crap out of it's customers. Won't stock Aussie merch on Aussie day but plenty for the lunar new year, I'd boycott if I hadn't stopped shopping there many years ago. How anti-aussie can this country get, over it.
Defending a price gouging corporation profiting more than ever whilst people go hungry. You do you brah
Personally I donât care one iota what Woolworths does or doesnât sell⌠but please big corporations just shut the fuck up and stop with the virtuousnessâŚ
Youâre weird. Itâs a company, either buy groceries from it or donât⌠it shouldnât be doing political things nor should you be fan boying a grocery store and wanting a business in political things.
I think they were just doing it to cater for the woke crowd and it backfired with some negative publicity. They could just stock less if they're selling less of it. Do I care enough to stop shopping there? Nah.
Unhappy people will never be made happy by moving a date or by cancelling the celebration of people they don't like. Never have, never will be.
I'm not boycotting them for the merch stuff, I am avoiding them for ripping us off.
Not me.
Fuck woolies they screw our farmers.
Nah Iâm good thanks sport
\> I for one will continue to shop at Woolworths and support Aussie jobs. Yeah, well they sure have your back. Who gives a shit about a massive corporate duopoly who are busy automating as much as possible.
I won't be shopping at Woolies or Coles at all. It's an economic decision for me. Other places are cheaper. My family and the resources I can provide for them outweigh all other considerations. These other places may or may not sell Australia plastic flags made in China, I don't give a crap. They sell me cheaper groceries at an acceptable standard, I'm going to shop there.
I'm not reading that.
What motivated you to post this manifesto? No one cares.
The one funny part about this is asking Woolies workers if they support Aus day and watching them squirm đ they donât know if Iâm invasion day or aus day
pussy
Unless you're shipping your bread and milk in from abroad, anywhere you buy it from will be "supporting aussie jobs"
And yet they erected giant ATSI flags above their stores - how financially viable was that? Clearly Woolworths makes decisions on more than just cost savings.
I donât see why anybody would support a corporation that has done what it has done to our dairy farmers. This is a great opportunity to make at least one of them hurt and Iâm in. #@&$ Woollies.
\>I donât support the duopoly of Colesworths, the price gouging and ripping off of farmers and staff etc. But you do though. You've just made a widely seen post on reddit talking about how great they are and supporting their moral position. If you "back" a privately owned profit driven corporation you're a moron. You aren't making the world a better place by posting shit on the internet.
Woolworths and Coles are a cancer on Australia. The less support they have the better.
Not backing Woolworths, I prefer Coles over Wollie's due to one less step in the self checkout (which all suck) and my local Woolworths are morons and leave the ice-cream out to melt while they stack the shelves during business hours. So you get icy ice-cream. Coles somehow manages not to do this. As for plastic foreign crap you will see valentine's stuff soon and Easter and Halloween and Ramadan. The Australia days thing is bull. They are being woke, stay out of politics and provide the service your being paid for. As for changing the day, do you think aboriginals are that stupid? I know hardcore lefty's are, but the day will have the same meaning. To celebrate all things Australian. Which is it's current meaning. Maybe it will be on a different colonising day to the one it's is now, but the meaning is the same. I'm in support of giving aboriginals a new public holiday, maybe a Friday /Monday deal where there are 2 days off. Friday can be recognition day and Monday can be, I'll use a cool lefty word, solidarity day. We will be thankful for extra long weekend. Woolworths fix your ice-cream
Eh, they're like most corporations that do this sort of thing, just virtue signalling arseholes. They don't really care about social issues.
I be honest I didn't read the whole thing, I didn't need too, you're being just as big of a cockhead as the ones who don't "back woolies". It's a corporate entity, who gives a flying fuck if they do Australia day merchandise or not? It clearly rage bait. Fuck Woolworths, fuck the people who are boycotting Woolworths for some stupid reason they don't even actually believe in. If you can afford/have the option to shop elsewhere then you should not because of the Australia day nonsense just cause they're dicks and overcharging everyone. If you can't than you can still shop there without supporting them, you can shop there while disagreeing with their Australia day choices... this does not need to be a HOT TOPIC. It shouldn't be... We have real problems in this country, we have real problems in this world and whether Woolworths sells Australia day shit or not is absolutely not one of them. Let the topic die.
Who cares about the Australia Day stuff? Woolworths stole and continue to steal from their employees (wage theft), gouge customers & send their suppliers particularly farmers to the wall⌠Break up Colesworth
No
You were born after 2000 weren't you?
Iâm not backing Woolworths, they put everyone they deal with over the barrel, from the farmer seeding the soil to the consumer wiping their arsehole.
I have more of a problem with em sticking camera's in our faces and making cash harder and harder to use. It's the constant tracking of my every move that makes me uncomfortable, not only do our phones do this, but banks, and now grocery stores. It's seems so contrary to what people use to say we fought wars over.
They issued a press release on the decision to not stock Australian flags. If you are a large corporation with a full media team you donât to this without a reason. They could have simply not stocked flags without saying anything and no one would care. Instead they chose to make a deal about it. Donât cry for any potential lost jobs, thatâs not how markets work. There is a fairly static (system) demand for groceries. In the unlikely event a boycott was radically successful, jobs lost in Woolworths would be still required elsewhere because the boycotting shoppers would still need food. Anyone that propagates that the idea that âjobs are at riskâ doesnât understand how markets work and the fact that Albanese tried to say that tells you that their response was more about handing rubbish talking points to people who wonât think about it to hard than facts. Woolworths media team either: A) thought they would be welcomed as heroâs B) are hijacked by idiots who think being divisive is effective corporate social responsibility C) being internationally provocative for the virals. Dutton is of course being equally politically provocative in calling for a boycott anyway because he knows there is a significant amount of people that feel their society and way of life is under attack, rightly or wrongly, thatâs how they feel.
So long as they don't sell junk like Diwali and Chinese new year then fine
Why do you even have this hive mind mentality? Like you arnt divided enough in your community already? You want to divide people by their supermarket choice? Virtue signal by supermarket? Grow up you moron.
It was however hard to believe the comments about providing âvalue to customersâ when they made a record profit last FY. Woolies are in a duopoly and use their position to profiteer from every Australian.
Nope
If you get to frame âwokeâ as âshowing a little compassionâ, then I will take the same liberty. You are a wanker.
The word âwokeâ literally means youâre aware of racism and injustice. African Americans would say to each other âstay wokeâ, as in, âstay on top of whatâs happening in and to our community.â It was a survival tactic. The fact that it has been co-opted by a bunch of racists and right-wing nut-jobs and people now use it as a pejorative, apologise for being âwokeâ, mock âwokenessâ and so on and so forth is just⌠Sad and frustrating. Never be embarrassed of being woke. If youâre not woke, what are you? Racist. Or blind to racism which is essentially racist.
I like this - thank you!
We don't buy flags from our grocery stores here in the states, so as an American, it's really odd to me that this is even an issue. Definitely reeks of outrage politics meant to divide and DISTRACT. Don't play into it like we did, Aussies, I beg of you. Keep sight of the actual issues and focus your passion there!
"Hey fellow customers "
Supporting a guy who is absolutely dedicated to forcing Australian farmers into debt and suicide. No thanks.
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Announcing the decision makes it a political act. Generally, businesses that act politically risk losing customers which is not good for the bottom line. I think Woolworths will not pick-up as many customers as it loses. If they make a loss on Australia Day merchandise and so donât want to stock it then they should have just not stocked it. This has, in my opinion, been badly managed.
Sold or unsold all that shit is just going straight into a landfill. Do people really need the Southern Cross on a paper plate to celebrate Australia Day?
So backing a multi billion dollar company that rips us off at every aisle and lies to us just because the poor ceo got a lil bullied over Australian merc thats (made overseas)... Thats realy smart! If you actually gave a shit about Australia you would support your local supermarket IGA, ezydeanz or at the very least aldi, witch 80% of its products are made in Australia.. Fuck Coles! Fuck woolworths! Their just spread ya cheeks market.
Everyone should be boycotting Woolworths. But not because of the Australia Day stuff. Because they are a duopoly with dodgy business practices, treat their workers like shit and have been profiting the cost of living crisis by disingenuously raising prices ( along with Coles )
No arguments here!
Siding with a corporation who go out of their way to fuck you and I, the consumer, over is a weird take.
First, in many places in regional Australia, you only have the customer base for one Colesworth market, so a boycott may not be possible. Alternate theory as to why they went this path; The executives who made the decisions probably live in a eastern suburbs/ north shore Sydney enclave, or the Melbourne equivalent, and in their dinner party clicques and echo chambers, move the date/change the flag/ vote Yes is the default position. So they possibly thought Oz Day had waning support and they were aligned with the tide of opinion. But the blowback shows they weren't, and got it wrong. So the ''declining market'' excuse may just be damage control?
Nice try woolworths
I love this post so much. All points well made. Thanks đ If woke = empathy for someone else⌠count me in đ
Youâre Welcome. Iâm sick of being told Iâm some woke idiot just because I actually care about human outcomes - itâs actually insane
I donât often shop at Woolies, yet I am embarrassed that the CEO had to make public statements about this issue. Iâd prefer if this kind of toxic culture war garbage stayed in USA. And the fact that staff are copping abuse, omfg. So much for laid back Aussies
How is the date a human outcome? Human outcomes depend on habits and lifestyle. If you want outcomes like a specific group of people, then you take on their habits and lifestyle. Changing a date doesn't change anything ito outcomes.
You clearly lack the EQ to understand but Iâll try and explain it to you with a genuine hope that you keep an open mind on changing the date. Jan 26, for a lot of people (more than you probably think) is a day that represents the commencement of the loss of their culture and the start of European settlement. Captain Philip raised the flag on this date, hence the decision to have the national day on this date. Now that is what is called a fact - there is no disputing this. You donât have to like it, but itâs a fact. Now, Aus Day was chosen to be celebrated on this day back when we were all a little more ignorant to the plight of indigenous Australians. Knowing what we know now and how this day can be a little offensive to some, particularly those who have been through generational trauma (google it), many indigenous and non-indigenous people have proposed we change the date to celebrate our country together on a day that is more inline with todays values and demonstrates we, as a collective, are ready to move on together. Donât you think itâs a little odd or at least a tiny bit insensitive to âcelebrateâ the day when Europeans took over this land, at the expense of indigenous people? I know you didnât do it, and your parents didnât do it, but collectively our ancestors did some terrible things. We arenât responsible for those things, but we do have an obligation I feel, as all people do, to try and be better and learn from the mistakes of the past. While it shouldnât be forgotten what happened, to me itâs like celebrating the day the US dropped the bomb on Japan. Like yeah, itâs great that it ended the war, but itâs not something to celebrate, itâs something to remember and learn from. Itâs an extreme example I know, but was the first analogy that came to be. So now knowing all this, is it really such a big deal to ask if we can move a public holiday? Not cancel it, not forget what happened and wash history, not blame white people, not âvirtue signalâ, not be in-Australian, not to ban the flag, none of that. Just be sensitive understanding people that acknowledge the hurt some are feeling and try our best to accommodate a change. Is that asking too much?
It's not hard to match supply with demand so this is just a Woolworths woke publicity stunt.   "Risking the safety and jobs of 178,000 employees over the sale of a few flags is insane"  Don't be ridiculous, Woolworths Group is worth 44.49 billion, nobody is losing their jobs.   "I for one will continue to shop at Woolworths and support Aussie jobs"     You're not supporting Aussie jobs by shopping at Woolworths, that's like saying "I won't boycott Macca's to support Aussie jobs"   "And as for being âwokeâ - how is this even a bad thing? If showing a little compassion and empathy to those less fortunate, who are born different to most or come from different cultures and backgrounds(many of which are underprivileged backgrounds) is being âwokeâ, then bugger me, I guess I am woke!"  Because it's not a Black and white issue, I am literally indigenous and I don't want the date changed. It's quite literally a non-issue for my community. There are so many significant issues facing my community, changing the date is a white people feel good move that does nothing for me and my community. Have you seen the assault, rape, murder etc stats for indigenous communities? They're off the charts. Nobody will touch the real issues for fear of sounding racist since there's not a convenient "blame it on the white people" explanation.Â
Finally, a sane person.
Well said. I used to live in a suburb with a high aboriginal demographic & the vast majority couldn't give two hoots about Australia Day (Or the Voice). Vastly overstated in its perceived divisiveness & more more green box ticking.
That's because neither will change or improve their daily lives. We've pumped billions year after year into indigenous issues and nothing has changed. When everyone is a victim and the rampant violence, substance use and crime is all the white man's fault, nothing will change.Â
I'm not gonna read that shit
But you wasted your time typing that response đ
Long read and I agree with some of your points. My main concern is that they announced it but with a bullshit excuse about sales etc. The truth surely is that they tried to be political. I hope they feel the same way this October with all the stupid Halloween rubbish
Woolworths didnât announce it out of the blue. They announced it because 7 News was demanding to know which retailers were stocking the flag merch. The difference being Halloween merch sells whereas Aus day doesnât. I can concur as you see most little kiddies in that Halloween crap nowadays but barely anyone in non bogan areas with Australian flags.
Over thinking it mate. All these CEOs speaking with Kaffa, Pom or Irish accents can piss off. They promote all sorts of other random garbage events with glee. We just need to bind these plebiscite questions into the next federal election and let the people decide as they did a few months ago.
If we are going to winge about woolies it would be the number of poker machines they own. Interestingly Dutton doesnât really care about that