John Lewis branded ‘unpatriotic’ for selling maps branding the Falklands 'Malvinas'
John Lewis has come under fire from eagle eyed shoppers after a £95 globe found on sale at its Sloane Square store was found to have labelled the Falkland Islands by its Argentinian name, Islas Malvinas.
The department store blamed a ‘rogue batch’ entering its production line for the blunder but this failed to dispel anger amongst some veterans of the 1982 conflict between Britain and Argentina for the islands, amongst them Simon Weston OBE who said the store should ‘hang its head in shame’.
The PR disaster stemmed from India, where the atlas is manufactured, and was sold in the UK as a ‘vintage-inspired’ map which, ironically, added ‘knowledge’ to a room.
Commenting on the incident Weston said: “I think it’s appalling and shows a shocking disregard and disrespect for all the British soldiers and civilians who died and it’s an insult to the real history of what happened."
“I think it shows shocking ignorance about the courage and heroism involved in rescuing the islands from an illegal invasion. John Lewis ought to hang its head in shame at this appalling insult.”
A John Lewis spokesperson responded: “The John Lewis Curiosity Globe is bought directly from a supplier, which provides the artwork on this product. When we launched this product, we approved a finished sample which was used as a template for all production.
“In this case, the approved sample was labelled with the Falkland Islands, however a second batch of the globe was produced for John Lewis which contained Islas Malvinas on the design in error.
“As soon as we became aware of this, we contacted the supplier to ensure that all replenished stock featured the original approved design.”