Asda's 'Busty Baps' Breast Cancer Awareness campaign slammed over 'poor taste'

The leading supermarkets do an excellent job of promoting Breast Cancer Awareness month - and have done so for many years.

With schemes such as pink packaging and the renaming of items, associated products in store catch customers' eyes every October. Now in its 27th year, Asda's Tickled Pink is one of the UK’s longest running charity partnerships, and this year the range sees more than 200 pink products hit the shelves.

Some of those supermarket products include Nestle's Shreddies - swapping its regular blue box for pink, and Lurpak butter, which has similarly changed it's blue trim to pink too. One item that has caused a particular stir, however, is part of Asda's own sandwich range - its oak-smoked ham and salad rolls, which have been relabelled as 'Busty Baps'.

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A snap of the product was shared to Reddit, where one of the supermarket's customers quipped in a caption: "Asda are not being very subtle with their Breast Cancer Awareness."

Despite the attempt at humour, several Reddit users slammed the temporary rebranding as "poor taste", claiming it made light of a serious subject.

"I have breast cancer right now. I get the joke but it's super cringey," commented one disgruntled Redditor. "Yeah why do they have to sexualise it all the time?" pondered another. A third added: "Wow that feels in poor taste."

A fourth asked: "Who gave the go ahead? Women have had mastectomies, and they think this is clever." Whilst a fifth added: "The further sexualisation of breasts should have no place in any breast cancer awareness campaign. I can't imagine this is going to make any woman who has had to have a mastectomy feel any better."

Others, however, said the fact the product had got people talking meant it was a case of "job done". One Reddit user explained: "It’s doing exactly what the people who designed it and gave the go ahead intended: it’s being shared and promoted on social media."

And a second person said: "I mean, why not? It's made it to Reddit and awareness has been raised as a result, albeit controversially."

A spokesperson for Asda commented on the matter, saying: "The purposeful tongue-in-cheek renaming of products as part of our Tickled Pink campaign aims to raise awareness of the important issue of breast cancer and encouraging self-checking, so we are pleased that our 'Busty Baps' have got people talking."

Kris Comerford, Asda’s Chief Commercial Officer for food, also said of this year's campaign: "We are really proud to have so many of our suppliers supporting this year’s Tickled Pink campaign and turning their iconic brands pink.

"It’s set to be our biggest ever year with over 200 pink products available both in stores and online, giving customers the opportunity to donate by purchasing everyday household and clothing items."