A regional grocery chain censored 'Summa Cum Laude' on a $70 graduation cake due to profanity
Publix enraged a South Carolinian mother after censoring "Summa Cum Laude" on her son's graduation cake.
Instead of "Summa Cum Laude," the grocery chain wrote "Summa --- Laude."
Publix's online ordering system registered "Cum" as a profane term, resulting in the censorship.
Publix made one mother furious — and embarrassed — after censoring "Summa Cum Laude" on her son's graduation cake.
Cara Koscinski wanted to celebrate the graduation of her son, Jacob, with a cake that congratulated him on his achievement of summa cum laude — a high academic honor. However, as the Charleston, South Carolina mother tried to order the cake on Publix's website, she was told that the message violated the grocery chain's profanity policy, The Washington Post reported.
While "cum" is a Latin preposition, meaning "with," it is also used as a profane term.
Koscinski thought she found a way around the problem. She used the "special directions" part of the online ordering site to explain that "summa cum laude" was, in fact, a Latin phrase.
However, when the cake was ready for pick-up for his graduation party, the lettering read: "Summa --- Laude."
"How utterly ridiculous and I will be speaking to a manager for a refund," Koscinski wrote on Facebook. "Shame on you Publix for turning an innocent Latin phrase into a total embarrassment for having to explain to my son and others (including my 70-year-old mother) about this joke of a cake."
Koscinski continued: "My son was humiliated!!! I seriously couldn’t make this crap up!!!!"
"Jacob didn't eat much of the cake after that but his mother says the chocolate and vanilla cake was delicious," The Post reported.
Publix gave Koscinski a $70 refund for the cake and a store gift card. However, The Post reported that one still cannot order a cake with the phrase "Summa Cum Laude" on it from the chain, without triggering the online-ordering system's profanity filters.
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