Most businesses use special occasions like Valentine’s Day to come up with creative gimmicks to boost profits. We gotta admire the hustle, but not all these gimmicks have the desired effect, with some even making headlines for the wrong reasons. Case in point: A Korean restaurant in Malinao, Aklan, recently went viral due to its Valentine’s Day promo  for all the wrong reasons. Here’s what happened:

TW: Sensitive, graphic content.

A Valentine’s Day promo gone horribly wrong

PeaceTea Malinao, a BLACKPINK-inspired samgyupsal restaurant, received scrutiny from Pinoys for their offensive Valentine’s Day promo yesterday. Although the problematic post was deleted soon after it started getting backlash, some Pinoys quickly saved a screenshot.

“Get up to 100% samgyupsal discount this Valentine’s Day depende sa sikip ng “kiffy” mo!” The post’s intro read. 

Just so you know, ‘kiffy’ is a slang term referring to a woman’s genitalia. As if the promo line wasn’t offensive already, it got worse with the promo mechanics.

“1. Just present an updated printed or digital photo of your kiffy to our female staff. You may also show proof via on-the-spot inspection,” the first instruction read. 

It was also accompanied by an explicit graphic representing the discounts, from 10% Yup to 100%. Yikes!

Pinoys outraged

Pinoys didn’t waste time calling out the problematic post. Many pointed out that making jokes about a person’s genitalia perpetuates harmful stereotypes and contributes to a culture of disrespect, where a woman’s worth is dictated by her “purity”.

Some pointed out that the labia shown in the picture isn’t even related to virginity. “That’s a labia, and women have different shapes and colors of labia — and it’s not because if someone is [a] virgin or how many times they do it,” one Facebook user wrote. 

And this comment probably sums up everyone’s thoughts after seeing that Valentine’s Day promo:

PeaceTea Malinao issues an apology 

After the post was taken down, PeaceTea Malinao released a statement on their Facebook page. 

“We sincerely apologize for the offensive and insensitive “Valentine’s Promo” we posted earlier. We realized our mistake and have deleted the Facebook post minutes after it was published on our Facebook page.”

They explained that the Valentine’s Day promo wasn’t their original idea and was only copied from other samgyeopsal restaurants. PeaceTea Malinao added they support women’s empowerment and believe beauty comes in all sizes, shapes, and forms. 

“Rest assured that this will never happen again and we will be very mindful on [sic] every content we post on our Facebook page.”

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