Tesco has faced a barrage of criticism after it admitted removing the saltire flag from punnets of berries grown in Scotland, but sold in England. The flag has been replaced with the Union Jack.
However, the British retailer claims that it only did the marketing swap because English customers were complaining of seeing images of the Scottish flag while shopping.
@Tesco I see my Scottish strawberries are now British. Why is this? Do you plan to start selling British whisky too? pic.twitter.com/sJDjKcUNgm
— tompythom (@tompythom) August 23, 2016
The alteration came to light this week after customer Eileen Brown tweeted the company:
"Tesco used to mark Scottish produce with saltire. Now you use Union flag. Please say why. Is it #casualracism? #Scotland."
She added: "Mostly raspberries and strawberries which I like to know are Scottish. Hope it's not being caused by #Brexit."
Tesco was quick to try and reassure her.
"When the category went through corporate re-design, it was decided to have British packaging only to avoid further criticism.
"Product origin is printed on each punnet ie customers in Scotland will be allocated with Scottish fruit and this is visible," Tesco tweeted.
@BRWombat Product origin is printed on each punnet ie customers in Scotland will be allocated with Scottish fruit and this is visible. 4/5
— Tesco (@Tesco) August 22, 2016
So, now Tesco has found itself caught between complaining customers from both sides of the border.
Angry Scots have take to social media to express their own fruit frustration at having their produce rebranded with the hashtag #strawberrygate.
New possible logo for @tesco? #strawberrygate pic.twitter.com/qNhJSeJeIv
— Peter Dempsie (@peterdempsie) August 23, 2016
People will use other supermarkets #tesco! https://t.co/FJCbEblx3F
— Eileen (@Eileen43Eileen) 23 August 2016
Though there are some customers who appear so moved by the grocery revelation that they've vowed to shop elsewhere, others have been taking a more light-hearted approach.
Made me laugh #strawberrygate someone's been busy 😁😁 pic.twitter.com/4vgZUy6UWw
— Lynn (@limpet67) August 23, 2016
Relations between Scotland and England have been somewhat strained since Scots only narrowly voted to stay a part of the UK in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.
And the issue of Scottish nationalism was reignited this summer with the Brexit vote, in which the vast majority of Scots voted to remain a part of the EU, but the UK as a whole voted to leave.
As Nats still complain about @Tesco #strawberrygate… Some people are only just hearing about it pic.twitter.com/oePmii3rYB
— ANTI-SNP MEMES (@anti_snp) August 23, 2016
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that it would be undemocratic to try and force Scotland out of the EU.
Asked about Tesco's decision to remove the saltire, Sturgeon chose not to see the funny side.
"Perhaps we should reflect and wonder what the response might be if this story was in reverse and the Union Jack was removed from packaging because of complaints in Scotland. So hopefully in whatever way this happens, common sense will prevail."
She added: "Strawberries from Scotland are just the best strawberries, and that's why we should eat them, not because of the flag that happens to be on the packaging."
