Melbourne shopping centre Pacific Werribee slammed for ‘Merry Everything’ Christmas display

Shoppers took to social media to voice their outrage after Pacific Werribee dropped a very important word from its Christmas marketing campaign.

Pacific Werribee was slammed for its ‘Merry Everything’ sign.

Shoppers gearing up for the festive season were left outraged after a major shopping centre in Melbourne’s west dropped the word Christmas from part of its holiday marketing.

Werribee locals slammed the decision by Pacific Werribee to display a sign that read “Merry Everything” above where Santa would sit with smiling children.

The centre was the target of hundreds of comments on social media from long-time visitors vowing to get their Christmas photos and presents elsewhere after shoppers noticed the untraditional sign.

“Hope plaza management get lots of feedback from customers. This is disrespectful to all Christians. Maybe we should purchase our Merry Christmas gifts elsewhere. It will always be Merry Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ,” one comment read.

“Can anyone recommend somewhere else for photos? We used to go here but will definitely not be now,” another added.

“No Christmas photos of the grandies this year, unless there is somewhere else that’s not so woke. Why do all other ethnicities get to celebrate their cultures/festivals but not Christians.”

Pacific Werribee replaced the sign with a traditional message over the weekend.

“Absolutely disgusting way of dividing a community. That’s really stupid. Clearly someone in marketing didn’t think this through too well.”

Comments on social media first started appearing about Friday and by Sunday Pacific Werribee had caved to community pressure and replaced the sign with a traditional “Merry Christmas” message.

The marketing move is in line with QIC’s ‘Merry Everything’ Christmas campaign, created by Jane Doe Creation, which launched earlier this month.

QIC has 23 Australian Retail Assets along the east coast, including major Victorian centres such as Watergardens and Eastland Shopping Centre.

The Merry Everything campaign is expected to run until Christmas Eve.

According to marketing website Campaign Brief, QIC was “inviting Australians to embrace their inner child” and “encouraged customers to switch their adult perspective to see the season through the eyes of their younger selves”.

Pacific Werribee general manager Ryan Ling said: “We acknowledge some customers have raised questions in relation to the campaign and we have listened to their feedback. Our overriding objective is to create a vibrant and enjoyable shopping environment that meets the needs of our community, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas, which is why we made the decision to change our signage from ‘Merry Everything’ to ‘Merry Christmas’.”