The comment, “Screw the divers!” allegedly directed at divers campaigning against the shark fin trade, went viral on Facebook and Twitter sparking huge levels of controversy.
Retail giant, NTUC FairPrice in response, announced that it will stop selling shark fin products from April, after it was inundated by complaints about the comment.
Seah Kian Peng, CEO of FairPrice said: “This will be the last Chinese New Year in which customers can buy shark fin products at all our stores.”
FairPrice is not the first supermarket chain to stop selling shark fin products, in September last year Cold Storage became the first chain in Singapore to cease sales.
Shark fin is a sought after delicacy throughout Southeast Asia, and according to statistics from conservation group WWF, Singapore in the second largest shark fin trading centre after Hong Kong.