Utah grocery store pulls 3 soda brands after customer points out ‘offensive’ soda
Published atSALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A grocery store chain is pulling soda products a customer posted a photo online of a Nazi-themed soda product she called “offensive.”
The commotion began when a customer posted a photo of a product called “Not See Kola” on Twitter that was apparently sold at a Macey’s grocery store, KSL.com reports.
“Shocked & horrifed (sic) to see that @maceysgrocery carries “Not See” (Nazi) from Real Soda of Utah. Please stop selling this offensive product! Six million Jews were murdered by Nazis! You have lost my business,” the customer wrote to Macey’s.
Macey’s, which has 13 locations across the Wasatch Front, apologized to the customer and vowed to pull “Not See Kola,” “Leninade” and “Orthodox Jooce” from its shelves. It said the products were ordered by a store employee without the corporate company knowing.
“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We apologize and our stores have been instructed to remove the product from shelves immediately. This item was not approved at a corporate level,” it said in another tweet.
The sodas are made by Real Soda in Real Bottled, Ltd., which is based in California, and the company has various distributors throughout the country, including Utah. The Utah-based distributor did not immediately respond for an interview request Monday afternoon.
The distributor defended “Not See Kola” after a different customer posted on its Facebook page about it on April 20.
“We respect and understand that everyone has differing senses of humor,” the company wrote. “Our goal is to provide a wide variety of sodas and flavors that everyone can enjoy.”