EMAIL RESPONSE FROM TESCO
Received Friday 1 May 2020
At Tesco we're committed to creating an inclusive environment, where everyone is welcome to both work and shop. We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and part of the Open for Business Coalition. Our LGBTQ colleague network - Out at Tesco - is one of the largest in Europe and we regularly work with the external LGBTQ community to support a number of initiatives and events, including Pride and the recent Lesbian Visibility Week.
We actively support all genders, regardless of their sexual preference, to feel confident in being themselves. However, we do not condone any unlawful verbal or physical activity, either within our business or from individuals in the wider community, and always support authorities on any Tesco specific enquiries.
Kind regards,
Shaun McGlinchey
Customer Service Specialist
On behalf of the Executive’s Office
Tel: 0800 072 6685
To David Lewis
CEO Tesco
Tesco House
Shire Park
Kestrel Way
Welwyn Garden City
Herts AL7 1GA
cc Jason Terry, Christine Heffernan
Dear Mr Lewis
Last Friday (24th April) morning I contacted Tesco customer services on Twitter. I had just seen that Lesbian Visibility Week had honoured Jane Fae as a campaigner and advocate.
This project/charity is sponsored by Tesco and it’s laudable that your company wants to support same sex attracted women. I imagine most of your customers would agree with me on that point. However, I was a bit shocked that Tesco would sponsor an award for someone who had campaigned for the right to ‘Extreme Porn’ (not Hard Porn – Extreme Porn which includes torture, ‘snuff’ and other disturbing material).
Fae has also made light of Domestic Violence and recently alleged that the reason more males died from Coronavirus than females was that the latter weren’t pulling their weight on the front line.
I had thought that all of this would be contrary to Tesco’s brand values as a ‘family supermarket’ so I contacted @Tesco on Twitter to ask if
A. Tesco was aware of the values espoused by Jane Fae and
B. If so, did they endorse those views and values?
Despite contacting @Tesco several times over the course of the day and the following weekend my question wasn’t even acknowledged. Several other people also contacted both @Tesco and @TescoNews with similar concerns to mine. None of us were acknowledged. That, Mr Lewis, is extremely poor customer service and downright rude.
As I’m sure you are well aware, Domestic Violence reports have spiked during lockdown, up by a staggering 33% in some places. And those are just the incidents that are reported. As any Domestic Violence charity will tell you, the majority of the abuse goes unreported.
By supporting a charity that honours Jane Fae, Tesco is placing itself firmly on the side of the abusers. If you want to see the evidence of Fae’s history just ask the people who run your Twitter account – God knows they’ve been sent it repeatedly. Or you could check the hashtag #TescoHatesWomen as it’s all linked there.
I’ve been a loyal customer of Tesco for fourteen years (before that I lived in the US) and my local branch is full of fantastic staff - only a fortnight ago I was on Twitter praising how well they were handling social distancing. But now this? Tesco owes it's customers an explanation as to why they are supporting someone who stands for violence against women?
Yours sincerely, Anne Marie Scanlon
And 280+ others please check your Twitter account for names.