The operators of Pacific Werribee have pushed back at suggestions its controversial Merry Everything campaign is disrespectful.
Pacific Werribee’s parent company QIC removedthe Merry Everything signage from the shopping centre earlier this week, after a photo of it placed between Christmas trees and above a chair where children normally have photos taken with Santa, led to a fierce backlash.
Pacific Werribee were accused of being ‘anti-christian’ by using the word everything instead of Christmas, while others labeled the campaign ‘woke’, a disgrace’ and said they’d be getting their Santa photos taken elsewhere.
Victorian State Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jasmine Yue called the campaign an ‘own goal’ that had backfired.
“Their marketing department has proven to be completely out of touch with the local who made their displeasure known to the management in no uncertain terms, citing their disgust at the sidelining of an Australian cultural tradition,” Ms Yue said on social media.
“The public backlash in this instance successfully saved Christmas with management replacing ‘Merry Everything’ signage with ‘Merry Christmas’ after just one day.”
While acknowledging that some of their customers were upset, Pacific Werribee General manager Ben Ling said the campaign had been misinterpreted and wasn’t designed to downplay Christmas or Christianity’s role in it.
“Pacific Werribee’s ‘Merry Everything’ Christmas campaign is intended to showcase our incredible range of gift giving and festive offerings available at the centre, so
customers can shop ‘everything’ this holiday season all in the one place,” Mr Ling said.
“Our overriding objective is to create a vibrant and enjoyable shopping environment that meets the needs of our community, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas, which
is why we made the decision to change our signage from ‘Merry Everything’ to ‘Merry Christmas’.
We share our customers’ sentiment that Christmas represents the season of giving, and spending time with family and friends. We look forward to helping customers create
memorable moments by providing the perfect gifts, ideas, competitions and events to make this Christmas special.”
Designed by Jane Doe Creative, the Merry Everything campaign launched earlier this month and has been rolled out across all of QIC’s shopping centres.
Pacific Werribee is believed to be the only centre to have had the campaign removed.
