Tesco put security tags on make-up for black and darker skins at one of its stores, but not on the light and white tones.
Natalie Westgate complained to the supermarket giant after a trip to her local store with her daughter in Osterley, West London.
There the mum-of-three saw all of the Garnier BB creme products for “deep”, black, skin tones had been put in security boxes.
But the exact same products, at the exact same price, that served “light”, white, skin remained on the shelf without any such precautions.
Natalie slammed the move as “absolutely disgusting and not to mention racist".
In a tweet, she said: “Can you please explain this? Do white people not steal then? Absolutely disgusting and not to mention racist!!!!”
Then, after receiving a response, she added: “I understand you have to security box items but do you think it is ok to only have the dark range security boxed and not the entire range.
"Please ask your race and ethnicity network and Black Voices Advisory Group what they think to security only boxing the dark range then get back to me.”
Initially, Tesco ’s response was to ask her to direct message them on the platform. In it they said: “Please let me reassure you that it is never our intention to offend anyone through the security tagging of our products.
“Our stores may sometimes use security tags on items which have recently been subject to theft and the decision to do so changes from store to store.
“As a multicultural employer we are proud to service our local communities … we want to ensure that Tesco is a place where everyone feels welcome.”
Speaking to The Sun, Natalia said: “I’m just disgusted, it’s ok to try to say they are inclusive but only security boxing items for a certain demographic is just plain racist.”
It is understood that the local Tescos has been spoken to about their use of security tags.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry that this has happened. This was a case of human error in the store and these products should not have been security tagged. It’s really important to us that Tesco is a place where everyone feels welcome, and the tags have now been removed.”
