Woolworths have taken down an Anzac commemoration website after it attracted criticism for inviting users to share tributes of war dead under the slogan "fresh in our memories".
Department of Veterans' Affairs Minister Michael Ronaldson said he contacted Woolworths and asked them to remove it immediately.
"The Australian community quite rightly expects that the word 'Anzac' is not trivialised or used inappropriately," said Minister Ronaldson in a statement.
"In this instance, permission was not sought by the campaign proponents, nor would it have been approved.
"Immediately upon having this campaign brought to my attention, I contacted Woolworths and asked them to end it," he added. "I am pleased that the campaign has now been withdrawn."
Minister Ronaldson also warned corporate Australia he will quickly take action if they trivialise the word Anzac.
"I hope this is a reminder to others that the regulations are in place for good reason and that they will be rigorously enforced."
Social media backlash
The "fresh food people" encouraged members of the public to share stories and profile-style pictures of loved ones affected by or lost to war by uploading images to a website that then branded them with woolworths logo and the phrase "Lest we Forget 1915-2015. Fresh in our memories."
The tribute was lampooned and met with some outrage on Twitter on Tuesday night.
"The Fresh in Our Memories website has been taken down this evening," Woolworths said in a statement.
"We regret that our branding on the picture generator has caused offence, this was clearly never our intention.
"Like many heritage Australian companies, we were marking our respect for ANZAC and our veterans.
The food retailer said the site was developed to give staff and customers a place to put their stories to mark the Centenary of ANZAC.
But social media users were sceptical.
Under the hashtag #brandzacday, users ran photos of Tony Abbott eating an onion, pets, pop stars and even Hitler through the Woolworths website before posting them on Twitter as memes.
"Hey @woolworths, this marketing campaign is really crass," said @mattburke.
@danieleade said he found the advertising and slogans to be insulting to Australian diggers.
"When brands look to leverage timely dates but end up creating content that is blatant commercialism #FreshInOurMemories #brandzacday #fail," tweeted @FrancesDwyer.
In an earlier statement, Woolworths denied the commemoration was a marketing ploy and defended its record of raising money for the Returned Services League (RSL).
Woolworths said its small logo on the site is in line with other corporately sponsored Centenary of ANZAC activity.
Woolworths has since apologised for the website. The supermarket giant apologised in a statement for branding the site, and said it was never its intention to offend.
The food retailer said the site was developed to give staff and customers a place to put their stories to mark the centenary of Anzac.
"We continue to be proud supporters of the RSL and Camp Gallipoli in this important year and look forward to working with them into the future," the company added.
On Wednesday morning, the fallout from the furore continued on Twitter.
"I'm still amazed at the utter ghoulishness of Woolworths shoehorning the word `Fresh' into community memories of war" one user tweeted.
"woolworths very on the nose and in bad taste Woolies. Sack the person who approved of this campaign," another tweet read.
Other brands using the word 'Anzac'
But Woolworths isn't the only brand capitalising on Anzac Day commemorations. The Daily Telegraph has recently released 'Anzac Mateship Coins'
Some NRL teams have also released Anzac jerseys for fans to purchase.
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