Roald Dahl fans are furious as campaigners force Sainsbury’s to remove Matilda mugs from sale because they feature quote ‘a brilliant idea hit her’ which could ‘encourage domestic violence’
- The Miss Trunchbull-style mug has the phrase: ‘A brilliant idea hit her’
- Campaigners have accused it of promoting domestic violence inside homes
- But Roald Dahl fans have hit back and called on Sainsbury’s not to bow to ‘idiocy’
- Sainsbury’s has apologised and said it will remove the mugs from its shelves
Roald Dahl fans have slammed Sainsbury’s for bowing to pressure and stripping Matilda mugs from their shelves after campaigners claimed it could ‘encourage domestic violence’.
The ‘offensive’ £5.50 mugs carry the phrase, ‘a brilliant idea hit her’, an adaptation from a sentence in the children’s classic, ‘the germ of a brilliant idea hit her’.
Activists have accused the supermarket of encouraging ‘domestic violence’ through the ‘hugely problematic’ Miss Trunchbull-style kitchen essential.
‘Remove this offensive and abusive item @sainsburys,’ said one tweeter. ‘Why would you support domestic abuse?’
But Roald Dahl fans called on the supermarket to ‘resist idiocy’ and said no one was going to read the mug and think ‘Oh it’s fine (to hit you) honey, the mug said so’.
A spokesman for Sainsbury’s apologised and said they are ‘working with’ the Roald Dahl team to remove the mug from sale and review the design.
Sainsbury’s has apologised for selling this mug and started removing it from stores after campaigners accused them of encouraging domestic violence
But Roald Dahl fans have hit back, and called on the supermarket to ‘resist idiocy’
Others have pointed out that the mug is clearly not promoting domestic violence
Calling on the supermarket not to remove the mug, the director of the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, Civitas, said: ‘I hope @sainsburys are capable of resisting idiocy. “A brilliant idea hit her” is not “a brilliant idea: Hit her!”
‘A brilliant idea hit her. She had a brilliant idea. Who is going to read a mug and find in it permission to hit their wife? “Oh it’s fine honey, the mug said so”?’
And another twitter user said the phrase meant ‘a brilliant idea came to her mind’.
‘Do you think they really made a mug suggesting #domesticviolence?,’ she said.
Social media users took to twitter to express their outrage against the Miss Trunchbull-style mug after spotting it on shelves last week.
‘Really poor reproduction with dangerous ambiguity,’ said one. ‘Matilda would be horrified. Licensed products are fine if they’re not garbage like this’.
Another said: ‘As if there weren’t enough violence against females already, someone thought it would be a top idea to actively promote more via a MUG??? Great move. Not.’
And Dr Miranda Horvath, an academic researcher into violence against women at Middlesex University, said: ‘This mug… is hugely problematic – we are trying to get them to stop selling it, apologise and make a huge donation to violence against women or girls charities.’
Women’s Aid has also slammed the mug with Ruth Mason, its Head of Change That Lasts, stating: ‘We were dismayed to see the Sainsbury’s design with the slogan.
‘This slogan can be read two ways – and that is the problem.
‘It can be read as the author Roald Dahl wrote in Matilda: ‘When at last the germ of a brilliant idea hit her’.
‘However, it can also be read – as many have noticed and commented on social media – as a trivialisation of the violence that women experience in their own homes.
‘The design uses a different font and capital letters for the words ‘hit her’ which further emphasises the ambiguity.
‘In addition, the quote is not in full and out of context.
‘Perhaps it would be a ‘A brilliant idea’ to change the design and donate to domestic abuse charities instead.’
A spokesman for the supermarket said in a statement: ‘We are apologising to customers for any upset this may have caused and working with the Roald Dahl team to remove the mug from sale while the design is reviewed.’
MailOnline has contacted the Roald Dahl team for comment.