Stop your misplaced outrage: The only crime Yoko’s have committed is a dodgy Paint job

They had good intentions

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Today, there’s been a lot of outrage over Yoko’s advert featuring the French tricolour overlaid with “£1 Drinks”. There’s a lot of things wrong with this poster – the weird angles, the childish WordArt font, the spelling of “til”. 

But if there’s one thing that isn’t wrong it’s Yoko’s management’s heartfelt sentiment over the Paris attacks.

Facebook users have slammed the advert as “insensitive” and “offensive”, but they should really stop being disgusted about something so superficial and instead focus on the innocent motivations behind the picture.

Yoko’s did not try to make profit from their advertisement, nor capitalise on the tragedy for publicity. Instead, they tried to collect donations for victims in Paris and show solidarity with the victims – putting into practise the quote from MLK superimposed on the poster.

We should focus on MLK’s message on the poster

Those decrying the advert fail to remember how Yoko’s owner attended Thursday’s march in remembrance of the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week and spontaneously offered to collect donations for the families of the victims in France.

Now, you can criticise the club for being naive and dilettante in how they created their promotion, but ultimately, it didn’t do anyone any harm. The advert may have been misjudged and hapless, but it was never meant to be insensitive. The sentiment was right, but the execution was wrong.

After all, the use of the French flag is not a crime in itself, and hopefully the British and French people will not continue to associate the tricolour with an absolutely horrific and bloody massacre in human history.

It’s a shame that people have been quick to cast a judgemental eye on a compassionate cause. To do so makes everyone focus on superficial aspects, rather than see the wider picture and look at the most important things.

At this moment, it is not important that Yoko’s has done a bloody bad paint job. What people should actually consider is how hundreds of people are suffering and mourning the loss of loved ones. These are the people who need our support.

If you choose to spend your time slating Yoko’s on Facebook then you’re wasting energy that could otherwise be used to help those who need it most.