(WWJ) Internet outrage alert! A pizza store owner in Ohio is under fire for an "offensive" billboard campaign that urges people to come in and enjoy because "fat people are hard to kidnap."
Notably, the same sign was regularly on a street board in downtown Royal Oak for Hermann's Bakery -- urging people to come in for cakes and doughnuts -- and no one seemed outraged.
But in this case, the owner took down the billboard and the sign outside his business after backlash on social media.
Michael Sandbro tweeted that it was offensive to victims of kidnapping. "Once upon a time maybe funny.. but with all of the trafficking and actual abductions going on, let's get rid it it. They knew better and now have stirred controversy.. so they got what they wanted..honestly, who's reading them anymore ? Get rid of all of them!"
"Never put up a statement that you will regret," Nadine Lewis tweeted.
Where some saw fat shaming, others saw humor.
"It's true," Bruce McGlothlin wrote on Twitter. "It may be in appropriate and fat shaming, but have you ever tried to pick up someone who weighs 300 pounds compared to someone who weighs 150 pounds. The lighter one is easier."
The TODAY show got the owner's side of the story., noting that some found it especially offensive considering January is human trafficking month.
"When I was a kid, people used to say fat people are harder to kidnap. It was something we said to each other growing up. It was just funny to us," owner Jeremy Clemetson told TODAY Food.
He added: "I never even thought about it in that way, kidnapping is not a joke, we are taking it down. But there are still going to be more funny signs up here and more funny signs around the community, and if anyone has any comments, my door is always open," Clemetson told the Cleveland, Ohio-based affiliate WJW.
Past shop slogans for the Ohio chain of pizzerias have included, "Legalize Marinara," "You will never have abs so order pizza," and "Free box with every pizza."
Of the latest sign, Facebook supporter Heather Nagel-Jenkins wrote, "As a plus sized gal I found the billboard hilarious! No offense taken!"
