Domestic abuse campaigners have urged Sainsbury’s to stop selling a mug with the words ‘HIT HER’ on it.

They are part of a quote from Roald Dah’s Matilda, but shorn of their context, reading: ‘A brilliant idea hit her.’

However, the wording is split up on different lines and in different fonts, so it can be read as ‘A brilliant idea. Hit her.’

The £5.50 mug features the quote alongside a Quentin Blake-style illustration.

The full quote from the 1988 book – which follows precocious Matilda in her quest to get revenge on her parents and avenge her favourite teacher – is: ‘When at last the germ of a brilliant idea hit her, she began to expand on it and lay her plans with the same kind of care the Duke of Wellington had done before the Battle of Waterloo.’

Academic Miranda Horvath called the mug ‘hugely problematic’, saying on Twitter that she would like to see an apology from the supermarket.

The head of domestic abuse charity Domestic Violence Assist says he was horrified to see the mugs on sale at a store in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Luis Labaton said: ‘There must be so many quality check processes in Sainsbury’s, it’s appalling that no-one picked this up.

‘It shows just how far from reality they are. It’s an insult to victims. This is further evidence that domestic abuse is not understood by so many.’

However, some claimed there was nothing wrong with the mug, with one man writing: ‘Have you really, honestly, got nothing more important to deal with in your lives? It’s a mug with a quote from one of the best loved children’s authors on it. That’s it.’

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: ‘We are apologising to customers for any upset this may have caused and working with the Roald Dahl team to remove the mug from sale while the design is reviewed.’

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