Fri 3 Apr 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The Warehouse has directed John Sands to remove greeting cards which read “Oh look! A tranny-saurus!” from the shelves of all its stores. Lawyer and TransAdvocates member Kelly Ellis complained after seeing the cards, which show a dinosaur in a wig, lipstick and wearing a handbag, on sale at a store in Whangarei. After looking into it, The Warehouse has asked John Sands merchandisers to remove the greeting cards from all its stores. It says that has begun, and will happen nationally over the next week. “Please pass our sincerest apologies to the community for this, there was no intention of offence. We try to work hard with our supplier so something like this does not happen, however something with many barcodes, this is sometimes not possible,” a Warehouse spokesperson told Ellis. Kelly Ellis says it’s a great response from one of the country's biggest businesses. “That we've had such a prompt and favourable response shows growing acceptance of responsibility to our community. There's no doubt that while there is some acceptance of the word, most of the community considers ‘tranny’ to be a pejorative term.” Ellis says on the other hand, she has not received a response from the card manufacturer, which clearly shows it isn't as concerned as the Warehouse. “It should be. Its offensive cards are being pulled from the shelves. We always like to use these events as opportunities for education and advancement and certainly hope this works out for the company.” The cards have previously were pulled from sale at a UK supermarket almost two years ago, after similar complaints. John Sands has its headquarters in Melbourne, and is an Australia-based subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation. A petition has been created calling for John Sands to remove the cards from sale and apologise.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 3rd April 2015 - 10:42am