A Morrisons supermarket in West London has apologised after a customer accused the store of making a “racist joke” by placing a monkey teething toy in the world foods aisle, directly beside signs bearing Jamaican and Nigerian flags.
Customer spots toy in world foods aisle
Nadeane Smallwood, 37, an operations manager from Gunnersbury Park, visited the Morrisons store at Brentford Waterfront on Saturday, June 20. She noticed the miniature monkey toy, priced at £5, positioned next to the African and Caribbean section. Smallwood, who holds both British and Jamaican citizenship, said the placement felt deliberate.
“I noticed it straight away and I thought, why on earth did they put that there,” she said. “It’s not a big Morrisons, so I looked around the whole shop, and there was a bit of a pattern to where the hanging items are placed; the locations of them all made sense. They had thought about it; it was not random.”
Accusation of intentional racist joke
Smallwood said she believes the toy was placed intentionally as a racist joke. “I think it was intentional and that the monkey toy was placed there because someone was having a laugh and thought they were being funny,” she said. “If I were looking for a baby teething ring, I would not be going down the world food aisle; I would go to the baby aisle, so it was there on purpose. It’s 100 per cent a racist joke.”
She added: “It’s taking the p***. I was born and raised in London. I know the correlation. I get the joke. I get the p***taking. I have travelled a lot, and you get an odd comment, but I never experienced it so blatantly in the UK. I have never experienced anything so brazen, and all just for existing.”
Customer’s decision not to confront staff
Smallwood chose not to approach any members of staff while in the store, fearing the situation could escalate into a significant confrontation. Instead, she reported the issue after leaving the store.
Morrisons apologises and removes product
Morrisons has since apologised and removed the product. A spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise for the placement of this product, it was never our intention to cause offence. As soon as we were made aware we removed the product.”
