A social media stunt by Australian supermarket chain Coles has backfired, leaving the supermarket group facing a torrent of public criticism through Twitter.

Coles had invited people on Twitter to finish the sentence, ‘In my house it’s a crime not to buy …..’.

Within minutes, several Twitter users took up the invitation and responded with sentences that referred, in very critical tones, to the ongoing ‘price war’ Coles is engaged in with rival supermarket chain Woolworths.

One tweet sarcastically read, “In my house it’s a crime not to buy fruit and veg from a place that pays their farmers fair prices and sells seasonal produce not stored in a freezer or artificially ripened.”

Within an hour, recognising its own blunder, Coles posted another ‘tweet’ to the website saying, “It’s a social media crime not to…finish a sentence yourself. Sorry guys that post was not meant for Twitter!”

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