Australia toilet paper truck catches fire sparking new tissue tizzy
[SYDNEY] A delivery truck carrying toilet paper has burst into flames in the Australian city of Brisbane, ratcheting up a sense of panic about the availability of the product generated by the coronavirus outbreak.
Shoppers have swept the shelves clean of toilet paper all week and supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles have had to limit the amount people can buy.
The government has urged people not to stockpile it and Prime Minister Scott Morrison has even tried to calm consumers worries about the tissue, as Australia's tally of coronavirus infections has climbed to 53. It has had two deaths.
The truck caught fire after its engine exploded in the suburbs of Australia's third-largest city late on Wednesday, police and firefighting services said.
The driver escaped without injury and the cargo, including toilet paper, was also largely unaffected.
The fire, nevertheless, grabbed headlines and added to growing worry about the availability of toilet paper, which Australia's chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, tried again to ease on Thursday.
GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
"There is no reason to denude the shelves of lavatory paper in the supermarkets," Mr Murphy told a news conference in Canberra.
Some media have taken the opportunity to poke fun at the toilet paper panic.
The NT News, a newspaper known for its tongue-in-cheek antics, published eight blank pages in the middle of its Thursday edition saying it was giving readers what they needed.
Toilet-paper-themed hashtags like #ToiletPaperEmergency and #ToiletPaperApocalypse have been popping up on Twitter all week.
Jana Bowden, an associate professor of marketing at Macquarie University, said government calls for people not to panic-buy toilet paper might actually spur more hoarding.
"When you place restriction notices in front of consumers, and they read for the first time in their entire lives that something like toilet paper, which they've always assumed to be a basic necessity, (is restricted), you think 'that's something I can't live without, I must not live without, therefore I just stockpile'," Prof Bowden said.
REUTERS
BT is now on Telegram!
For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes
Consumer & Healthcare
Marina Bay Sands Q1 profit surges 51.5% to US$597 million on tourism boom
Swiss watch exports plunge as China and Hong Kong demand dries up
Cutting the cord?: Events leading up to Cordlife’s MOH suspension and arrests of its directors, ex-group CEO
Billionaires selling cheap stuff get richer from inflation pain
Amazon to push cashierless shopping tech into more third-party stores, while backing off itself
Japan’s Uniqlo opens Rome store as part of European expansion