Random child eating a flower in the new Lidl catalogue

Updated
Advert from the Lidl catalogue
Advert from the Lidl catalogue



Lidl has developed an entire marketing strategy around the Lidlsurprises hashtag, but anyone who read Lidl's latest leaflet in Ireland this week was in for a slightly bigger surprise, because it featured a photo of a child who appeared to be eating a flower.

The advert, publicising the money the company raises for one children's charity, shows a number of children in fancy dress, collecting flowers. The way the photo has been taken makes it seem as though one of the little girls is tucking into her flower harvest.

The picture was published on Reddit, and it went vital. One user commented that they would now need 'anti-child' spray for their garden - while another added that they could just sow some vegetables - which are a natural child repellant.

One man Tweeted: "This is the greatest thing I've seen all year. Random child eating a flower in a Lidl catalogue!"

Eagle-eyed readers will spot that the stem is unusually straight, and that the petal looks remarkably like a ribbon. The item in question is therefore far more likely to be some sort of flower fairy wand than a flower. She either wondered what her toy tastes like, or she was blowing a kiss using her wand, and the photo caught the gesture at an unfortunate time.
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Supermarket advert fails

It's not the first time a supermarket advert has made the headlines. In May last year we reported on the Tesco milk advert which was taken down at stores around the country - after it emerged that the advertising designers had used a beef herd in the photo - which wouldn't have produced a drop of milk for the company.

Sainsbury's, meanwhile, has found itself in the firing line for mistakes in its adverts twice in recent years. In 2013 it launched a Christmas advert featuring real customers who submitted their own footage. One of the clips that made it to the final advert was of a man with three Co-operative own-brand products in the background. The rival quickly capitalised - telling the press: "It seems that our Truly Irresistible Christmas pudding, lemon torte and Christmas cake are so good even Sainsbury's can't resist advertising them."

The second mistake was in October last year, when one store put up a poster that had been intended for display in the staff area. It encouraged employees to try to get each customer to spend 50p more every time they visited the store in the run-up to Christmas, and branded it that 50p challenge. At the time Lidl capitalised on this mistake, with a poster encouraging its customers to save 50p on every shop.

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