Supermarket Mother's Day 'pamper' giveaway of cleaning products called 'sexist'

A Mother's Day gift pack of cleaning supplies from a Wellington supermarket has been called "sexist" and "disappointing".

The social media post from Pak’n’Save Porirua – which had now been edited – originally promoted the gift as a pamper pack, where people commented why they deserved the prize to go into the draw.

The three lucky winners got two bottles of laundry liquid soap, four bottles of laundry scent booster, two air fresheners and a box of chocolates.

The supermarket initially defended the giveaway, but later apologised saying the post didn't reflect its views.

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Foodstuffs spokesperson Emma Wooster said the post had been changed.

"We’ve had a chat to Cory, who's in charge of giveaways at Pak’n’Save Porirua this week and he genuinely thought he was doing something nice for the store's Facebook community - but sadly missed the mark with this particular promo," she said.

While many of more than 400 comments on the post were people nominating themselves or their loved ones, who could need a bit of help, some weren't thrilled by the choice of products.

One person said: "This screams happy Mother's Day mum, here's a bunch of cleaning stuff to wash the piles of laundry you'll still have to do on your special day."

Another said "nothing says ‘I love you mum’ like laundry detergent".

University of Waikato's senior lecturer of sociology and social policy Dr Johanna Schmidt said it was disappointing this was how Mother's Day was being marketed.

The package reinforced the idea that women were responsible for domestic labour, and implied they’d be happy to receive cleaning products for Mother's Day.

Schmidt said it was bemusing they’d marketed it as a pamper package, when most women wouldn't consider doing the laundry a treat.

It was sexist and not something that’d be seen on Father's Day, she said.

Pak’n’Save Porirua's fresh foods manager Cory Ross, who also handled the supermarket's social media, said only about 30 comments were negative.

He’d removed those comments, and said the others were mostly from females who were ecstatic to be considered to win the products.

"I don't think it's sexist," Ross said. He said he’d asked his female friends – and they agreed.

It was simply something nice for free for Mother's Day.

The cleaning products were samples he’d had in his office, put in to make the box more substantial than just a box of chocolates.

Those who left negative comments were aggressive and had taken the good gesture out of context, Ross said.