Centra Says Sorry After Children’s Allowance Day Promotion

Did you catch a glimpse of the new Centra advertising leaflet yesterday? If not, it’s probably because the leaflets were quickly recalled by the retailing chain after they caused an outrage.

Why was everyone getting so worked up about them? Well the leaflets (which were issued by four Centra shops) were advertising cheap booze as part of a ‘children’s allowance day’ deal.

The Irish Daily Star reports that two Centra stores in Dublin, one in Wicklow and one in Offaly were offering beer for a mere 62c a bottle.

The promotion sparked up a major outrage online and within hours, Centra was forced to issue a grovelling apology and instruct the stores in question to immediately withdraw the promotion.

“The promotion is not part of a national marketing plan or promotional strategy,” said Centra in a statement.

“Centra fully understands that the abuse of alcohol is a serious issue in Irish society and apologises for the promotion, which although isolated to four stores, is contrary to Centra’s belief that retailers have a critical role to play in ensuring that alcohol is promoted and sold responsibly,” the statement continued.

However, despite Centra’s apology, a lot of people are still wondering why on earth such a promotion was even approved in the first place.

“Considering that one in 11 children in Ireland are living with a parent with problematic alcohol use, any link between parenting and buying cut-price alcohol is totally irresponsible,” said Fiona Ryan, the charity director of Alcohol Action Ireland.

What do you think?