| A dead shark is displayed to offer a “unique experience” to customers in the seafood section of Yongsan E-mart in Seoul, Sunday. Captured from Twitter |
Retail store apologizes for gruesome display
By Lee Hae-rin
A large retail store at Yongsan Station in Seoul, has come under fire for a bizarre scene in which a dead, bleeding shark was on display in a photo zone at the seafood section, to provide “a unique experience” for customers, Monday.
Several people who visited the Yongsan branch of E-mart posted pictures of the animal, along with their comments about the gruesome scene on social media and online communities, Sunday.
In those pictures, a dead shark placed on ice dripping with blood is displayed at the supermarket's seafood section. A Styrofoam box is placed underneath to collect the blood dripping from its tail and a sign is placed on its head reading “Careful, it will bite if you touch it.”
Next to the carcass stands another sign calling this “an exclusive event at Yongsan E-mart,” and featuring the characteristics of the animal, names of dishes using sharks, a graphic of a popular animated shark character, as well as welcoming customers to put on a shark-shaped hat, take a souvenir picture with the fish and share it on social media.
| A dead shark is displayed to offer a 'unique experience' to customers in the seafood section of Yongsan E-mart in Seoul, Sunday. /Courtesy of Park Si-soo |
The scene raised eyebrows of many visitors.
“I feel terrible already for sharks living in aquariums, but I was offered to take a picture with a dead and bleeding animal,” one user wrote in a comment. Many others said they were shocked to see an actual carcass displayed instead of a replica.
According to the supermarket franchise's official, the Yongsan branch has since May been occasionally displaying “unusual fish species” that customers rarely get to see, such as a giant stingray, sunfish and yellowtail amberjack, to offer “unusual experiences.”
The E-mart branch apologized for the inappropriate display.
An official from the retail store told The Korea Times, Monday, that this species of shark is not sold for human consumption at the supermarket and the displayed animals were “captured naturally and discarded from fishing boats,” noting that the company did not catch the shark intentionally to put on display.
In response to the negative customer feedback, the supermarket removed the carcass from display within a day on Sunday and apologized for “preparing an event that is not agreeable to customer sentiment.”
The company plans to collect and pay particular attention to customer feedback and review its plans for any upcoming fish display events.