A Wellington couple are outraged after their nine-year-old son was given a pen shaped like a blood-filled syringe as part of a promotion for Hell Pizza.
Joel Crampton received the pen as a prize at Upper Hutt's H2O Xtream pool, stuff.co.nz reported.
The pens, given away as part of a sponsorship deal with Hell Pizza, had “Hell, creating addicts since 1996” written on the side. Mother Mary Crampton says the prize was “a shocker”.
“It looks like it's full of blood. I was completely shocked. They must think drug taking is cool,” she said.
Joel’s father Dave said while he could see the funny side of the prize, Joel wouldn’t be taking the pen to school.
Upper Hutt City Council recreation services manager Mike Ryan said he “could appreciate” that the pen was not appropriate for a nine-year-old, and was glad to have been made aware of the incident. He said no more pens would be given away.
Hell Pizza director Callum Davies said the pens were not supposed to be given out to children and he would like to know how the incident happened.
This is not the first time a marketing campaign has gained negative publicity for the company – they have been in the public eye on several occasions for their edgy advertising.
Previous campaigns that courted controversy included a condom mailout to promote the Lust pizza, and hot cross buns bearing an inverted pentagram.
3 News