Culture

Harvey Norman Store Slammed For Dodgy Coronavirus Sign

Hardly normal.

by Rebecca Shaw  9 February 2020
Harvey Norman

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A Harvey Norman store in regional NSW has been heavily criticised for a sign linking the coronavirus to products made outside Australia. 

The sign, which was spotted and posted to social media, reads “No coronavirus in our mattresses, as ours are Australian made!”

Besides the obvious, it was pointed out the sign is wrong in MANY ways, as there are no recorded cases of anyone catching coronavirus from something like a mattress. There was also people wondering how likely it is that there are no other products from China sold by Harvey Norman.

Many other people strongly criticised the company, labelling the sign as straight-up racist, and calling for a boycott of the store.

Harvey Norman’s head office quickly moved to distance themselves from the sign, saying in a Tweet that the “franchisee acted in isolation without any consultation or communication beyond their store.”

An apology is good, and the sign has been removed, but there’s no news about if further disciplinary action or training will be taken. If the culture of the store that lead to that sign being written is still intact with no interference, that is concerning. There’s also speculation that the culture of the entire company from the top down may mean nothing will change.

It’s just the latest in a spike of coronavirus-related  racist memes and increased hostility toward Chinese people in Australia, and let’s hope it keeps getting called out.