A man has filmed himself defacing Coles and Woolworths supermarket stores in a bizarre act of defiance seemingly driven by frustration with rising prices.
The one-minute-long video posted to YouTube on Friday shows a man dressed in florescent workmen gear using a stencil to paint slogans on multiple store walls.
In the one of four clips, the man is seen using the stencil to write “The Price Gouge People” under the sign of a Woolworths Metro at Bondi Junction in Sydney’s east.
The slogan appears to be a jab at the supermarket chain’s long-running slogan “we are the fresh food people”.
In the same video he made a similar jab at Coles.
As customers file past the Coles store, the man is seen painting a second slogan before collecting the camera and displaying the graffiti, which reads: “Down, Down, Morality Down”.
Another clip taken at a Coles supermarket shows the same slogan, seemingly a play on the classic Coles jingle, plastered under the sign of the Rose Bay supermarket.
The clips are played under the ‘80s song We’re Not Going To Take It by the Twisted Sisters, and only hours after uploading had been shared to social media site Reddit.
“When you inevitably get a fine for this, please put up a GoFundMe and I will donate to cover part of the cost,” one user wrote.
“Thanks for doing something more people should be doing.”
Other users labelled the man a “hero” while also commenting on the ease at which the man painted the graffiti while dressed in high-vis apparel, as well as increasing costs at supermarkets.
The leading supermarket chains have come under fire recently after recording record profits – $1.1b for Coles – while complaining that inflation and supply issues had driven up costs.
Recently published analysis, conducted by investment bank UBS, found prices at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets had increased by 9.6 per cent over the past 12 months to April.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Woolworths said the supermarket giant was “doing more everyday to help customers spend less” when the shop at the store, but did not address the vandalism.
“We’re acutely aware of the pressure that’s being placed on Australian families through cost of living increases, whether they are our customers or our team members,” the spokesperson said.
“That’s why we have more than 6000 weekly specials, more than 3000 products on our Low Price program, dropped the price of 450 popular products for Spring and introduced Member Pricing.”