Woolworths launches internal review as ‘racist’ singlets appear on shelves

Great Work Woolies… You’ll find them right next to the F- Off we’re full bumper stickers!

My sister works at Big W and had to destroy a bunch of scratch and sniff fruit scented girls undies last month…. Great buying decision there…

There were also boys ones with fart smell scratch n sniff, but yeah…..

loving the ‘it wasn’t our fault’ response. I was only following orders! Appreciate them removing the offensive item but wouldn’t hurt to take some responsibility.

How is this racist all it is saying is if you don’t like it leave you don’t have to be a immigrant to leave, this racist stuff is getting ridiculous.

Excellent trolling Bart. Please don’t rise to the bait people.

Bart, I agree.
There is nothing racist about this slogan. If you go to a pub and don’t like the people there, do you stand there and complain until they walk out and your friends take their place?
If you don’t like shopping at Woolies, do you demand change? Or do you simply move on and find a place that suits you?
Come on Australia.
We are the majority. If the “politically correct” don’t like it, please move on. Find somewhere else to live.

How the hell is it racist for goodness sake! Where are they, I want one!!!

Oh dear, PC run amok. There is NOTHING illegal or offensive about this T-shirt and its slogan – it’s a simple statement of opinion. How is this different to so many T-shirts with slogans for sports, different brand or cars etc?

when will people realise it is the ones who take offense are the problem.

they need to harden up. this said ‘if you don’t love australia, leave – with our flag’

how is that racist. i am 3rd gen aussie..it could have been directed to me for all we know.

for fucks sake, stop!

there is wars going on, deaths…and you all pick this to be offended over. glad to see where your priorities lie

Oh dear, it looks like the right wing nut jobs have stumbled across mumbrella. Don’t tell me, it’s ‘PC madness’ right?

Of course these t shirts are offensive and should never be sold by a supermarket. Not because the words are offensive in isolation, but because the slogan has been adopted by the redneck racists in our society (along with ‘f@$k off we’re full’ and ‘this is Australia & we speak English’).

A swastika is just a six lines joined together, but is also highly offensive owing to those who adopted it as a symbol…

Maybe I’m rising to the trolls, but the number of people commenting here who don’t know “why this is racist” or thinking it’s “PC gone mad” shows how far Australia has yet to come to join the rest of the 21st century. Far out!

Right on David, Abbott is sending troops overseas to fight in a war that Australia has nothing to do with condemn that, this remark is rude not racist I would think it refers to everybody living in this country whether being Anglo, Asian, Arab etc. This remark goes for the makers of the shirt and anyone who supports it.

Tell Abbot keep our troops at home with there families not half way across the world fighting for Americas greed for OIL and power and then we will worry about childish shirts

Comments 6-9 pls refer comment 11.

I THINK WOOLWORTHS SHOULD LEAVE IT….AUSTRALIA THAT IS….OBVIOSLY THEIR LOYALTIES LIE ELSEWHERE….

@jack they are not trolls – these guys a dead serious about their views.

Racism in Australia is still very well embedded and alive.

I worked as a ski instructor in America for a while many years ago. Had a pretty good time too.
I could never understand the Aussies who did the same but complained about America. Why be there if you don’t like the place?
There are plenty of other places to spend your time.
Surely if I had said to them “If you dont love it, leave”, I would not have been labelled racist?
How is this generic statement any different?
Because offense is taken, never given.

I like Australia more as a friend.

I love it, but I’m not IN love with it, if you know what I mean?

Do I have to leave now?

You must be reading a different Facebook to me, Steve: apart from a couple of obvious trolls, the posts I read were universally condemning – not of Woolies selling the garment, but of the decision to remove it. Most wanted to know where to buy one.
I fail to see how the words on said garment were in ANY way racist – politically incorrect, maybe, depending on your political bent, but not racist in any measure. Xenophobic – perhaps to some degree but even then, what’s wrong with loving your country. I’m afraid that the inmates have well and truly taken over the asylum – Woolies management included.

Well I find it offensive on the grounds that I am a republican and don’t support our current flag with the Union Jack in the corner. The implication that I, who comes from four generations of republicans in Australia, should leave a country because we don’t support a flag which was only officially adopted in 1954. My family’s republican stance is of much longer historical duration that that flag’s official status. It is also offensive because it is used by racists but it would offend many other republicans as well.

The word racist seems to be overused and its meaning forgotten. Seems to be used to describe any person or idea that others do not agree with. The slogan in no way vilifies any specific race at all. May not necessarily be the typical of something that Woolworths would normally sell and may be seen as offensive to some, but racist it is not.

Bit rich for Adam Bandt to be whingeing about Woolies and their t-shirts when he spoke at two rallies recently featuring people wearing delightful t-shirts emblazoned with “F..k Tony Abbott” slogans. That’s offensive. I smell rank hypocrisy.

There is no racism with these singlets because no race nor ethnicity was mentioned. People are too quick these days to complain over anything and everything. If you don’t like the singlets, simply don’t buy it, and move on. The word “racist” is incorrectly applied to these singlets.

Yes Australia is full of people just LOOKING to be offended on someone else’s behalf. And that’s the sad part.

As a domiciled Pom over here I wholeheartedly support the notion of the slogan and wish the UK had done so years ago. That country (my homeland) is now miserable and unhappy and overrun by political correctness bowing to the whinging of all the “minority groups” that couldn’t wait to move there. That is not racism and I am in no way racist. I support free speach and dealing with social injustice and racial prejudice. But the culture of a country is what defines it and makes it unique. Part of our Australian culture is an open embracing and welcoming of other races but that should not in itself change the culture.

Learn the lesson Australia and keep the country great…multi racial YES multi cultural NO – the culture IS Australia.

Are those claiming they don’t see how it’s racist really to be believed? The slogan is as much about “loving” Australia as Fuck off we’re full is about how “full” we are. It now has no other meaning apart from its racist one. That’s what it is for. It has no other use. What’s the point of trying to twist it around so that it may, possibly, technically not be offensive? Why not try to argue with a straight face that Stop the boats is actually about saving lives at sea rather than a blatant appeal to racist voters?
Ridiculous!

Wow I see there are some racist bogans in agency/marketing land. Shock horror right? NOT. We know what ethnicity divide between “suits” and “IT/designers”

Yes the shirt is offensive, the tone is racist and would have been purchased by trash white bogans who watch border security. If the tshirt said “I love Australia” and flag that would NOT be offensive.

For you ‘free speech’ lot, the slogan was taken from the Cronulla riots…

Racist? Really, well I have 2 of the bastards so I must be a committed racist. What the hell is wrong with loving your country and demanding others who live here and enjoy it, love it or go make some other country a wonderful place by their efforts and service. Racist my AXXX! (End of Rant!)

This is evidently a ‘hard’ one to gain an agreement on; is it racist or not?

Context is king.

I am a white, Anglo ‘Pome’. If I, like many of my counterparts do, (whinge about the faults of this great Southern land). If I did whinge and an Aussie, of any colour, race, creed said to me……………. I would not deem it as racism.

The issue here is offence (not a garden fence that keeps people out of your garden), but disrespect, rudeness, aggression (insert other synonyms here).

Aussies are institutionally racist. Ignorance far outweighs true nastiness admittedly. I spat my PG Tips all over my desk in my first job in Oz when a Queenslander announced that the ‘Curry Munchers’ would be touring in the summer. If I were regarded as a ‘tea swilling, roast beef scoffing, pastey Pom’ I would not take offence, however I am racially and culturally in the majority and that dear sirs is why these shirts are offensive, isn’t it? It is because we are nice in dear Oz, we are welcoming, we are caring are we not?

Imagine Australia being a tough gig and you uprooted (not sexually you Aussie bogan!), you left and sought sanctuary in friendly, prosperous XLand, where you, (culturally and race wise) were the minority. Imagine being told, regularly that you were not welcome, however going back ‘home’ was not an option. How would you feel?

Are people told to their faces on the streets that they are not welcome?

Does the Murdoch press and the shock jock massive whip up hysteria and further fuel boganism, which results in an Aussie stereotype?

Lots of questions. I am keen for an academic to put this into perspective, because I might be way out of my depth.

Thoughts?

P.s. because academics are not racist right?

Australia is not a pub you either love or leave; it’s a democratic country where people are free to have a debate about what they like and dislike about the country. And, yes, they’re free to say that they don’t love it for whatever reason – government policies, the reliance on certain industries, the price of iTunes downloads, whatever. Not loving something is, often, what strives people to try and make it better. And attaching the flag to the statement on the t-shirt makes it worse. Many Aboriginal people love their country but not what that flag represents. Are they to leave?

This is NOT RACIST. People calling this racist demean actual racism and need to learn some modern Australian history. This shirt (and similar car stickers) have been around since people wanted to change the Australian flag twenty years ago. NOTHING TO DO WITH RACISM.

So, according to Dishwasher to be a racist you just need to be “trash white bogans who watch border security”. Wow! You seem to be as intelligent as your leader who at the age of 40 still speaks like Kylie Mole.

I agree with you Pom b. It has to be viewed in context. What does it mean? What is its intention. I think it is completely out of order! Xenophobic.

The shirt is not offensive. Anyone can leave at anytime. I am thinking a cohort of white educated Australian borns all left during the 60s and 70s. Greer, James,
Robertson, and thousands more who wanted a career/cultural experience OS.
Anyone born here or migrated here is free to leave. Love it, work to create change and improvement, or leave.

Brad: Even if you don’t think this is shirt is racist, the shirt is in bad taste AND to me it implies you are a white trash bogan. If you had some class you won’t go near that shirt, for the people who don’t have an issue wearing it.

The is the sad reality of Australia still at 2014, if “you lot” arent draping flags over your back with sunscreen on your nose you are simply ethnics who should go back to where you came from.

meant to say get over yourselves

Well JG, the same could be said about the minority of people complaining about the singlet. If you don’t like it – don’t buy or read it. Stop infringing on the rights of those who want to buy it. The singlet is not racist as no race is mentioned. And if you don’t like Australian culture, you are welcome to leave. No-one is stopping you.

Let’s get one thing clear here- a troll is not someone who disagrees with your “PC” opinion.

I’ve just returned to Australia after living in Asia last 20 years. I’ve seen racism institutionalised in places there. This singlet/t-shirt and slogan doesn’t reflect racism one iota. If anyone stating that the slogan is racist can actually point to any specific race or ethnic group that is being targeted then please do. I’m struggling to see which specific group this slogan is aimed at. I may add, that Australia is made up of many ethnic groups and cultures, many who love being in Australia and many who have actually become naturalised citizens. Doesn’t matter how you read that slogan, I can’t see how it is targeting any of these people either.

Really should try to understand what the definition of racist or racism is before it is used ignorantly. And if you are unaware of the definition of ignorant then here it is for you – lacking knowledge or information as to a particular subject or fact. Lots of ignorance been shown in regards to this matter.

So JMS living in Asian as a expat makes you expert and you can speak for the minority of ethnics?

Maybe you missed news about the Cronulla riots mate, a few years ago some of the slogans used which I would like to point out there was No race /ethnic groups were mentioned. I guess the free speech crowd would of said the riots was ok too as citizen you have right to say whatever you want and protest.

We were born here, you flew here
F**k Off, we are full
Speak English, or get out

The shirt is bad taste and is in the same group of offensive car stickers, towels and bogan r us clothing accessories.

Fine here “Well JG, the same could be said about the minority of people complaining about the singlet. If you don’t like it – don’t buy or read it. Stop infringing on the rights of those who want to buy it. The singlet is not racist as no race is mentioned. And if you don’t like Australian culture, you are welcome to leave. No-one is stopping you.”

Reply: Sorry what is Australia culture? wearing a badly designed singlet to make a ‘statement’ you are nationalistic and patriotic at at music festival? We were born here, you flew here, F**k Off, we are full, Speak English, or get out. These slogans didnt mention any race either….

Here we go again, PC clashes with common sense for the 800,000,000th time.
To be “Racist”, a statement written or uttered must downgrade or insult a specific race, colour or creed. This does not.

The statement may be jingoistic, chauvinistic and/or shallow, but it is hardly deliberately offensive, and it certainly is not racist.

Dear Dishwasher,

I never said I was an expert. I am making an opinion based upon my experience and knowledge. Like you are making an opinion. Why do you need to read more into something which is not there or not stated? Anyway, let’s continue…

Definition of racism from the Oxford dictionary: “The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.”

Since you are able to see more than what is actually present or stated perhaps you can then enlighten us on two things:

1. Which specific race is the writer of that slogan refering to?
2. What race is Australian?

If you want to use words such as bigotry, which the Oxford dictionary defines as: “Intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself” or state that the slogan is in bad taste because you know what the writer’s intention in coming up with that slogan was, then you may have some justification for using those words or phrases. But not racist.

Now, I put it to you that some people I have had dialogue with thought that the slogan was in reference to the current Australian flag. And that if you did not like the flag then you should leave. That being the case, then the word racism definitely doesn’t apply.

Furthermore, although I was born in Australia, my parents immigrated here from Eastern Europe. I grew up in places where I had people calling me all sorts of names. None of which were pleasant and many which were absolutely racially offensive. So while I am not an expert and I do not profess to be an expert, I have at least some personal understanding of racism and at least enough grasp of the English language and its vocabulary to recognise the meaning of words. Now use that vocabulary correctly because the word “racist” has been overused inappropriately and has been done so in a way so as to create divisions between ethnic groups with the purpose of inflaming situations rather than pragmatically discussing an issue in a level headed way.

The statement on the shirt, in and of itself, is not racist.

The statement is an old argument that is often thrown at anyone who criticises something about a country/place, regardless of their race. I’ve heard it used against all manner of people, including (in Australia) native-born, white, middle class Australians. The statement is inherently jingoistic, not racist.

The statement has also been used in racially based arguments such as at the Cronulla riots. It’s often used by people who contend that there is only one “Australian” way of doing things, and that people who seek to import their own customs into the country because they prefer to follow them rather than the “Australian” way should not do so.

I expect that those who don’t like the shirts and are calling them “racist” are basically condemning the statement because of its adoption/use by some people with racist motives. That’s what makes the statement “racist” in their eyes. As the Simpsons might say – “Not racist, but number one with racists!”.

Of course, the argument “If you don’t love it, leave” is inherently flawed. You may love Australia and want it to be the best it can be. It may be your love for Australia that makes you want to change some things about it to make it into an even better place than it is now – just as a parent who loves an errant child loves them none the less because they want to correct the child’s behaviour.

For my part, I find the shirts confrontational, aggressive and boorish. I don’t find them racist. It’s for the former reason that I dislike them.

So, should Woolies sell them? That’s a matter for Woolies. In my view, the tone adopted by the shirts will not be appreciated by many customers and have the potential to offend even putting aside any racial issues. It’s a bit like selling T-shirts with lewd slogans or questionable graphic content. On top of that, the fact that this is a slogan which some racists have adopted creates a connection in the minds of some that Woolies may not want to encourage.

There are plenty of shirts around which many people wouldn’t have a problem wearing but that Woolies might decide didn’t really fit with their brand, even if not objectively racist or otherwise offensive to a specific class of persons. This is one such shirt.

I was overseas at the time of the Cronulla riots and all I heard on the news and from a few ‘well meaning’ commentators, upon learning I was Australian, was how racist Australia was for rioting on the streets and treating those poor minorities in such a racist way. (Our media’s cultural cringe doesn’t earn us brownie points in the eyes of the international community. We still need to stand up for our many positive attributes and show the other side of the story.) The only example of how I see this phrase becoming racist is if it comes from ferals approaching a different ethnicity asking them if they love this country. Most other examples are just ordinary folk who have no idea about what ferals were yelling during riots and who think that having a common love for the land of which you live is enough common ground to forge a community.

You see…

Australia now defines the slogan… “if you dont love it, leave it” …as racist.

So….If you are a “true” aussie….

well, work it out kids 🙂

What James said…

JG.

Yes I see the heart of what you are saying, however, we must not be quick to attribute any form of success or credence to the likes of those involved in the Cronulla riots.

I remember the days when we stood in the school yard and saluted the flag as a matter of ritual at morning assembly, and migrants were told “if you don’t like Australia you can always go home,” especially Poms like myself.

There was a push from Canberra a few years ago, to resurrect the old school flag ceremonies, and Keating (stoked up since youth with Langisms) was dead keen to change the old flag and remove royal portraits.

The very statement “I am a proud Australian” might be interpreted as Jingoistic or chauvinistic, maybe even racist; but it all boils down to intent, which may be evaluated one to one, but as a bare slogan under the flag, and printed upon a T shirt? Impossible to tell, and open to individual interpretation as we have seen here on this opinion forum.

ummm, What race does the tshirt offend ??? Is there an i hate Australia race ?,?,

why do people still call the Cronulla riots racist ???
they were just some pissed off Aussies trying to get the beaches back from a gang of out of control anti Australian Lebanese gangs.
and i am boycotting Woolworths from now on, for not selling any proudly Aussie tshirts.

How about we offer substitute slogans? OK, I’ll try….’You are not a tree’

The only racist and offensice aspect is the decision by Woolworths to remove the items from sale and deliver some limp wristed testosterone deprived apology. I’ve just ordered mine on-line and will wear it with pride. If you don’t like it, Bring It On !!

I don’t think a thread could contain such opposing views anywhere else other than Australia. After more than a year of living here it still amazes me how any mention of racism or being PC can cause such uproar and outrage from some Aussies who refuse to see the problem with statements like this, even on a forum where I would expect a certain level of intelligence and understanding.

We have so, so far to go.

Then again, I suppose I know what do if I don’t like it right?!

Dear Nicola. You have beautifully encapsulated the almost incomprehensible views of the testosterone deficient and the testosterone deprived who have decided that in their myopic (and thankfully not widely held view) that the t-shirt slogan is in some way offensive to some obscure and never clearly defined, but nevertheless vociferous minority. To claim that there is a problem in the first place where there clearly wasn’t one, then presume to represent intelligence and understanding when the whole reaction to this t-shirt has come from a direction that is unfortunately sadly deficient in both qualities, only reinforces the belief of the silent majority that the values on which this once proud country was built are slowly being eroded by you and your ilk. Like any good left winger, you have decided not to engage in robust debate, but instead to shoot the messenger. We have so, so far to go Nicola? I’ll gladly purchase your ticket if it would expedite your personal journey.

Al Panther and Nicola:

You may not find the t-shirt racist but there are many people out there who find that T-shirt offensive, aggressive and in bad taste. Why? because since the Cronulla race riots where we see aggressive drunk white males with flag capes bashing ethincs. The Australian flag is not the same since the riots, you see this douche bags all the time at music festivals..

Slogans such as Go home, we speak english, We were born here, you flew here… these slogans HAS NOT RACE mention yet they are aggressive and confrontational. How about you should wear that shirt tomorrow at work and see what your HR or CEO says, that would shut you up. Wear it and let me know how you go…

Nicola: Welcome, may I guess you are from UK?

The problem with Australian society is it accepts casual racism at the workplace and in the media. Casual racist would slur a funny joke and do high fives, all its just a bit of fun isnt it..

For you white folk, the shirt is racist towards us the original people of this country, Aboriginals. Oh wait, did you just slap a union jack on it and called it Australia? #imnotracistbut

Hey peeps there is a music festival calling for drunks slurring racist jokes, entry must wear flag capes. #INSERTclicheboganhere

Let’s put all the people who resonate with the message on this shirt on Cronulla beach, cut off the land tip, and push it out into the ocean so it can be it’s own country. Jacqui Lambie can be president and we would all be happier.

I always love the left’s hypocrisy. you’d get shouted down for calling for the banning from sale of the black Islamic flag appropriated by ISIS, on the basis that its original meaning is not as a symbol of barbaric slaughter; that it has been misappropriated

Well said Al Panther!
Left Wingers love a solid hackey sack session / coom-ba-ya!

Drivers in Australia are shocking, no etiquette whatsoever.

I can’t stand the way that Aussies replace ‘please’with ‘thanks’: Ï’ll have a schooner of New thanks!” – say please you rude Aussie fckwit!

Aussies have one song and it ends with “Oiy, oiy, oiy”. No better than the Yanks’ “USA, USA, USA….”

The Soccerwho’s are hopeless.

Naming sporting teams after animals is stupid.

If I don’t like it what?!!!!

The reality, with a smile on my face, I can confidently fire this out, in a pub, over a beer, with a load of Aussies and they lap it up. Again, because I am the same creed, race, culture junky.

Aussies have been conditioned (many have) to love the flag and to be proud and passionate. Australia is low ranking in the environmental stakes, yet if they were low ranking in the Olympics there would be protests on the streets. Education is needed and the shock jocks and right leaning Christians lunatics do not make it easy to educate the masses.

Responsible governance is what we need.

Gooday.

p.s. some ‘Aussies’ are more British than the British.

amusing that the only things about this shirt, the article or the resulting discussion that are in any way racist are the two posts talking about “white trash.” In fact, that and “white maggot” are the only two racial slurs that i can think of that are are fair game.

John Howard took our flag, and through a series of cheap scare tactics and pathetic nationalistic dog whistles wiped our entire countries arse with it.

It stinks, it represents an out of touch Australia and is offensive to our first people. AND.. in a purely marketing sense…its ugly and confusing, not what any brand wants.

Bin the current flag, make the aboriginal flag our national symbol, and arrest anyone who wears it as a cape, underwear, thongs, etc etc.

Received my shirt from ebay and wore it down the street. Did not get one negative comment, but lots of positive ones.

Message for Al Panther – This site should have a LIKE button. Would have hit that on your post for sure

If the words Don’t love it then leave is offensive and has racist undertones.

What next.?? The white stick figure family stickers on cars.? They are racist right.? Cause they only come in white.??

All these num nuts who say certain aspects of our culture is non PC – Who gives a crap – Ever heard of Freedom of speech.?

Next people will be calling for a boycott on Indians who stick their stickers on their cars that represent they are Indian.

Or Turbans will be outlawed like they tried with the Burka.

I guess we have very little issues in Australia if we are so up in arms over a slogan.

So people

If you don’t like it – Fuck off..!! and don’t buy it…