A new menu item at Hell Pizza has left a sour taste, with the company's "misfortune cookies" sparking accusations the company is transphobic.
Hell Pizza customer Tamsyn Clemerson was shocked when she and her boyfriend opened a fortune cookie last night, and found a piece of paper saying: "you will marry a transgender".
"I pulled it out and read it to him and we both of us made a `what on earth is going on here' face," she told NZ Newswire.
"It's implying that to be associated with somebody who is trans is a misfortune, and that is so awful - trans people in New Zealand and worldwide have a really difficult time as it is."
The other cookies contained amusing messages, but this one missed the mark, she says.
"I always figured they do edgy advertising but if it pokes fun at anybody, it'll poke fun at people who are well-established in society, not a very marginalised group who have a hard enough time as it is."
Ms Clemerson says she's disappointed in Hell Pizza - and wants the totally inappropriate cookies withdrawn.
"I would like their marketing executives to have a really good look at themselves and possibly go through some kind of sensitivity training and come up with ideas of how to be edgy and funny without stomping all over somebody else."
Hell Pizza did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company is no stranger to controversy.
Past stunts include a mailout of 170,000 branded condoms to promote its Lust pizza, a competition including a trip to Bali which was based on the plight of jailed Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, and an animated skeleton of Sir Edmund Hillary dancing on a grave, 10 months after his death.
NZN