Kmart stores in Australia have yanked a Christmas-themed bag for hams emblazoned with “Merry Ham-Mas” — after it sparked outrage for resembling the fear group Hamas.
The festive drawstring bag, which features holiday decorations and is meant to store a ham within the fridge, first drew ire from the Australian Jewish Association.
“K-MART STUFF-UP! Try the special Christmas bag currently available via Kmart online. Yes, it’s real!!” the group wrote on X, where it posted a picture of the $4 terror-evoking tote.
“Although that is potentially funny (the AJA committee has tossed around some non-PC jokes) it’s really not a superb look. We suspect some product manager may cause the corporate some embarrassment,” it said.
“So we’ve politely written to Wesfarmers corporate suggesting the product be pulled,” the AJA added.
Kmart later apologized for the cringeworthy gaffe.
“We got it flawed on this occasion, and we apologize unreservedly,” a company rep told Politico Thursday.
“When designing this product we clearly didn’t think through all of the implications and the product has been faraway from sale,” the spokesperson added.
The Jewish rights’ group later posted an update, saying it had been contacted by “senior management” from Kmart announcing that the bag was “being pulled out from the web site and all stores.”
In an interview with The West Australian, AJA president David Adler praised Kmart for yanking the product.
“It’s not normal times, there are those that will distort things and can harass the Jewish community,” he told the outlet.
“After all, there are greater issues to be addressed, coping with the actual terrorism is very important, but one among the opposite things we’re coping with is propaganda,”? Adler said.
“I need to offer credit to Kmart management as they acted in a short time,” he added.
Christmas ham is a staple of holiday traditions in Australia, where it is commonly served cold.