Advertisement

Asda hangs its head over epic 10,000 'Isle of White' bags for life fail

A close up of the bag-for-life reveals the ‘Isle of White’ blooper (Isle of Wight Radio/PA)
A close up of the bag-for-life reveals the ‘Isle of White’ blooper (Isle of Wight Radio/PA)

If you’ve produced 10,000 bags for life, you’d like to think they’d last longer than a morning.

Supermarket chain Asda says it is “hanging its head” after an epic fail over the launch of a flagship store on the Isle of Wight.

An embarrassing printing error saw some 10,000 specially designed shopping bags printed with the words “Isle of White”.

MORE: Ford offers up to £7,000 off a new vehicle under UK car and van scrappage scheme

And now the bags for life will have a very short lifespan as they are to be binned.

The retailer opened its £40 million store in Newport on the island on Monday to much fanfare.

But it didn’t take long for the mistake to be spotted and news spread across social media with the hashtag #RetailFail.

While some islanders saw the funny side, many were very angry.

One Twitter user wrote: “Unbelievable … incompetence at best.” Another simply said: “Grockles!”

MORE: UK pension regulator to prosecute former BHS owner Chappell

Two children designed the bags to celebrate the opening of the £40m store (Isle of Wight Radio/PA)
Two children designed the bags to celebrate the opening of the £40m store (Isle of Wight Radio/PA)

However, some more cynical users suggested the error may have been deliberate in order to generate some PR for the opening.

MORE: Tesco bins 5p plastic carrier bags forever – now you’ll have to get a bag for life

A spokeswoman said: “This was a genuine printing error and we’re in the process of reproducing the exclusive design to get back on sale as quickly as possible.

“We’re hanging our heads for making such a silly mistake on our bags for life for our new Isle of Wight store.”

The supermarket used a design by two local children, featuring a map of the island, on the bags which shoppers were to be offered as they used the new store.