Right now, several customers are upset about Willy’s signage, which also P4 Gothenburg reported on. Willys stores are said to have advertised their grapefruit, which according to the first sign was imported from Israel.
Instead, a new sign was written stating that the fruit was imported from South Africa. This has caused many customers to see red and many customers have now reported the incident as they feel misled as consumers.
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Customers rage on social media
In the Facebook group “Swedes who support Palestine” there is a video of when a customer discovers the rebranding. At the time of writing, the video has over 120 comments and several customers are upset and say they feel cheated.
“We have to sue them, they’re lying!?”.
“Don’t take any risks. I can live on other fruit just knowing that we are not sponsoring the bombs that kill innocent children.”.
“It must be reported! It is illegal to mislead consumers”.
The Swedish Food Agency about the signage
In a comment to P4 Gothenburg says Henrik Borsch from the Swedish Food Agency that they take a serious view of changing the origin of a food in an unauthorized way.
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Willy’s explanation
Johanna Eurén, communications manager at Willys, writes in another email P4 Gothenburg that it was not done on purpose.
She believes that there have been individual stores that failed to change signs when the fruit arrived from a new country and that it can happen when the seasons change.