Bar Sign Makes a Joke About Domestic Violence and Lands the Restaurant in Hot Water

We all love a good bar sign, right? Whether it’s a funny ad for what the restaurant is serving, or a witty take on popular culture, bar signs can be great marketing tools. They can also go horribly wrong, as one restaurant owner is learning the hard way. Ribs and Bibs in Belfast, Ireland put out a bar sign that left a very bad taste in people’s mouths. And, as we’ve seen happen time and time again, their poor response only fueled the fire.

For the record, a good bar sign can be REALLY good.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRd7dx0gbta/?tagged=barsigns

Get it? Whisky? Still? Ha!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZn3dHeDCT_/?tagged=barsigns

It’s the remix!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZirIg5D_b1/?tagged=barsigns

PSA: don’t drink and text. No good will ever come of it.

See? When they’re good, they are very good. But then, sometimes, a bar sign goes terribly bad. As in, WTF were they thinking, holy crap, why would they write that bad.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=705903776278940&set=a.118963874972936.1073741836.100005779718416&type=3&theater

“You can beat your wife, but you can’t beat a 5 pound lunch!”

I’m…sorry? You can do what now? There is just so very much wrong with this sign. No, Ribs and Bibs, you actually CANNOT beat your wife. And honestly, no one needs a 5 pound lunch (not the point but still). Considering Ireland has the worst record for investigating and prosecuting domestic violence in the European Union, this joke is in especially poor taste.

People were rightfully outraged. And then the restaurant responded. And then it got worse.

bar sign
Image: Facebook/Kaz Hawkins

“See it for what it is”. Well, I think most people did. And what it is is a very shitty joke.

People are now flocking to the restaurant’s Facebook page and leaving one-star reviews. Many of them are calling on the restaurant to apologize, which they haven’t done yet. What the owner HAS done, though, is throw his own employees under the bus and insulted and blamed them for the sign.

https://www.facebook.com/kelephonica/posts/10155578947551276:0

There’s a right way to advertise on a bar sign, and then there’s what this place did. Also, there’s a right way to address your mistake and apologize, and then there’s what this place is now doing. Maybe this owner should sign up for a class in Restaurant Social Media Etiquette 101?

Also read:

(Image: Facebook / Kaz Hawkins)

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