Ice Cream News ( Man takes photo of himself in Ice cream freezer and puts iton Facebook )

Lawson store closed after employee puts photo of himself in freezer on Facebook

National Jul. 17, 2013 - 04:05PM JST ( 84 )

KOCHI —

A Lawson franchise in Kamobe, Kochi Prefecture, has lost its license after the 21-year-old son of the franchisee uploaded a photograph of himself in the store’s freezer onto Facebook.
According to Lawson, a Facebook user reported seeing a photo of the young man inside one of the convenience store chain’s food freezers. An investigation revealed that the man, who works part-time at the store, had a friend take a photo of him lying in the store’s ice-cream freezer on June 17 and then uploaded it onto Facebook.
The photos have gone viral in Japan, having already made the rounds of Twitter, Facebook and various message boards where, rather than being congratulated on a novel way of keeping cool, his act has been largely criticized.
People are even calling for a boycott of Lawson’s ice-cream, while others declared they will never buy ice cream from a Lawson store ever again.
Lawson canceled its contract with the franchisee and closed the store on Monday, Sankei Shimbun reported.
In a statement to media, Lawson said the photo was taken while the employee was off-duty, but added that mishandling of foodstuffs is strictly forbidden by company policy. The company said that it had decided to dissolve the franchise contract until another owner can be found.