Harvey Norman blames franchisee for 'unacceptable' coronavirus sign

The sign appeared outside Harvey Norman in Albury, which the retailer said the franchisee did without consulting them. Photo / Twitter

Harvey Norman is being criticised for a sign out the front of one store boasting that its mattresses are free from coronavirus because they're made in Australia.

Despite no publicly recorded cases of someone catching the deadly virus after purchasing a brand new mattress, Harvey Norman Albury erected a sign this morning with the message "No Coronavirus in our mattresses as ours are Australian made!".

A photograph of the sign was posted on Twitter this morning.

Not helping @HarveyNormanAU pic.twitter.com/D1MtPmFiGs

— Michael Ryan (@theprovenance) February 8, 2020

Harvey Norman's Twitter account quickly responded to ask which store the sign appeared in front of, before replying a couple hours later to say the sign had been removed.

"Albury franchisee acted in isolation without any consultation or communication beyond their store. As soon as the company was made aware, the sign was immediately removed and the franchisee told this was unacceptable. Our apologies," the retailer said in a statement.

Store staff declined to comment when contacted by news.com.au.

Plenty of comments have been made on Twitter and on this article however, many pointing out that a lot of the products sold at Harvey Norman are in fact made in China, as is the case for many retailers.

Others were also debating whether or not the sign is actually racist, funny, or both.

Racism alive and well in Australia - thank you @theprovenance for calling this out https://t.co/VofkxsKub3

— Cara Waters (@carawaters) February 8, 2020

That's not offensive really but it is cringe worthy. How embarrassing of a Harvey Norman franchise to do this. Such an eye rolling moment 🥺😣😳🥺😣😳 #harveynorman https://t.co/wMhuez16oM

— 💧Aleisha (@aleisha_71) February 8, 2020

Until that time I tried to buy a timber bed from Harvey Norman, there was to be a 6 week wait til it came from Asia

— Adam.C (@adzman78) February 8, 2020

The fact that people are not taking into consideration what Franchisees do, act, and say isn't always what the business owner would do, act, or say? See the McDonald's manager racist rant. Did y'all boycott them? Threaten staff and customers for there?

— Janis 🍫📚📝🌈 (@Janis_Hill) February 8, 2020