Big C Thailand apologizes for offering real live puppies as prizes

Big C, one of the biggest supermarket chains in Thailand, issued an apology yesterday for having hosted and promoted a raffle promising real live puppies as prizes.

The apology comes after the company received widespread public condemnation for what critics called a severely immoral lack of concern over the wellbeing of these live animals, since the potential winners may not be responsible pet owners, and could possibly end up harming the dogs instead.

The drama began earlier this month when the Ubon Ratchathani Province chain of the supermarket advertised a puppy giveaway on its social media accounts.

“We have good news for you. When you buy anything from Big C Ubon Ratchathani, you can bring your receipt to enter into a raffle for these adorable dogs! It doesn’t matter how much you buy,” the chain wrote on its Facebook page on March 16 — along with photos of two puppies, a Pomeranian and a Siberian Husky.

The post has since been deleted, as has a second post — published last Wednesday — in which the Big C Ubon Ratchathani store posted a reminder about the raffle, urging customers to enter before the deadline closed.

However, screenshots of the now-deleted announcement posts have been circulating online, and the supermarket’s Facebook page is still receiving scrutiny from netizens far and wide.

“This is a life, not an object you can just give away. What if someone who’s not prepared for the responsibility wins it? How will it eat? Who will take care of it when it gets sick? What if it doesn’t make it? What if it gets abandoned?” writes a commenter on the store’s page.

“If you don’t respond to these criticisms, I will stop buying things from your stores,” writes another.

Unable to stay silent any longer, yesterday, Big C Ubon Ratchathani issued two statements apologizing for their campaign and ensuring netizens that they have put an end to the raffle.

They alleged that the campaign was not planned internally by the supermarket itself, but by a pet store that had rented their space to hold the raffle, and specified that their own supermarket managers were not to blame.

“We will take this as a lesson for the future and will be more careful about the activities our partner stores organize,” the store wrote.

“Thank you for the feedback from all our customers.”

Nevertheless, netizens still seem skeptical about the official statements.

“You are a huge conglomerate, you have to think before you act. Organizing a campaign, like this, no doubt, requires the opinions and collaboration from many people right? Please be more conscious about your decisions,” one writes.

As of press time, Big C Ubon Ratchathani has not responded to Coconuts Bangkok’s request for comment.

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