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Tesco says it’s “extremely sorry” for labelling a fancy dress costume as Dark Panther, instead of Black Panther.
Despite the superhero film smashing box office records, the title seems to have been tricky to get right for the store.
The costume on its website is of T’Challa – the main character in the film – who is very definitely called Black Panther. Not Dark Panther.
Tesco apologised after people on Twitter demanded to know what was going on.
On Tesco’s website, it was labelled as “Marvel Avengers Dark Panther Fancy Dress Costume”. The page is not currently working.
Some wondered whether this was the ultimate own-brand offering.
In a statement to Newsbeat, Tesco said: “This was a mistake and we are extremely sorry for any offence caused.
“We are correcting the description of this product on our website and are reviewing our processes to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
It’s certainly a mistake – and a pretty big one, given the nature of the film.
@Tesco #Tesco please can you explain this to me? Why does this costume say 'dark' #panther there is no dark panther in the kingdom of #Wakanda it is #BLACKpanther why have you done this what is it? Dark what? U dont remix #IronMan 2 #metalman so why this? #EpicFail #fixthis pic.twitter.com/hV8wD5RnLY
— meeee (@missluvalot) February 25, 2018
I want to know why #Tesco has called this a "DARK" Panther outfit. @Tesco who is the DARK Panther? Confused I am kmt 😒😒😒#Author #BlackPanther #Tesco #kmt #EpicFail #FixThis #DarkPanther #DontPlay #notnewsnews #myresponse #TescoDotCom #ChangeIt #DarkPantherWho #FOH #Love pic.twitter.com/vYcYYMv811
— Author Makala 'Kelz' Thomas (@MissKelz90) February 25, 2018
Black Panther is the first ever superhero film with a predominantly black cast – many who speak with accents from across Africa.
Black Panther, based on the Marvel comic book character, revolves around the ruler of a fictional central African nation who moonlights as a costumed crime-fighter.
@Tesco there's a pretty big movie out at the moment called Black Panther, not sure if you've heard of it. The merch you sell is called "Dark Panther". Is this a tesco own brand super hero?
— NaomiMinto (@Naomimint0) February 25, 2018
The film more than doubled the amount of money it was predicted to make on its opening weekend – raking in $242m (£173m) in the US and Canada.
Although Tesco has apologised, the store’s been accused of not doing something sooner.
Tesco has so far not commented on when it was first told there was a problem.
