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KL lingerie store accused of racism in job ad

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A lingerie store chain called Minoshe Lingerie in KL has come under fire for a job advertisement asking for "fair" assistants.According to The Star, the ad placed at the store front said: “Vacancy. Sales Assistant (Fair). Female only” and drew flak from members of the public.To address the issue Minoshe put out a statement on its Facebook site yesterday stating the following:“Firstly, we feel sorry because this hiring ad made some people feel uncomfortable and [there was a] misunderstanding of the word “Fair”. The meaning of “fair” in our hiring ads meant event, temporary booth & exhibition. We are recruiting people to run the temporary booth for our promotion fair."The company then went on to explain further what it meant with an explanation from the dictionary to the word fair and ended the note stating that the company would “welcome all people regardless of race or religion to work with its team.”Here’s the full post:Dear All,We would like to clarify the case about “fair” word at our hiring advertisement at Minoshe Quill City Mall...Posted by Minoshe Lingerie on Monday, April 13, 2015However the explanation did not sit well with some of its customers as one Facebook user Diana Frances Chai said:“Thanks for clarifying with a dictionary meaning as if it's our fault it was misunderstood. Did you know the dictionary contains more than 1 meaning to the word 'fair'? GASP! I know right? English is tough. Some free copywriting advice, perhaps you'd in future like to state a condition in full (promoters for fair) or a more accurate descriptor such as "Temporary Promoters for Lingerie Fair".”Another Facebook user, Anita Ang said that this was clearly a sign for the company to hire a new copywriter to set the ad standard for merchandize and job vacancy to use at all its retail branches.Minoshe has over the years seen success with lingerie chain networks in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and also numerous business growth in markets such as Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. This is not a first time racial issues have been highlighted in job ads in Malaysia. Late last year Oldtown White Coffee came under fire from the Malaysian public after its recruitment ad was perceived to be discriminatory and circulated on social media. The recruitment ad highlighted the launch of Oldtown White Coffee’s upcoming Taman Mount Austin outlet and said that priority would be being given to Malay and Chinese applicants.

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