People aren’t happy with H&M after they did this
Eight days in and it looks like we’ve got our first big brand fail of 2018.
Whose idea was it at @hm to have this little sweet black boy wear a jumper that says ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’?
I mean. What. pic.twitter.com/6AJfMdQS4L
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
The retailer has since apologised and said it has been removed from “all its channels” (except it is likely to hang around on Twitter for some time to come).
What do you think of it? Here’s what was said by the person who originally flagged the picture online.
I’m fucking disgusted. Like…what was the thought process behind this @hm ???
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
Is this part of a publicity stunt? Do some brands want to be dragged on twitter in order to gain more visibility?
Ugh. @hm have always been cancelled but I’m re-cancelling then again with zest.
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
What makes this worse, is that I now have a gaggle of white men in my mentions telling me that there is nothing wrong with this jumper.
I am just…speechless. pic.twitter.com/4AuX6FIm9E
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
As somebody who has been called a monkey many times by white people (both to my face and online), this is absolutely unacceptable.
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
I don’t care if people think I’m being ‘too sensitive’ on this.
Fix your gums to call any child of mine a monkey and I will spin your jaw. Ignorance is not an excuse anymore, it’s 2018.
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
Hmm. What’s sad about this whole thing is the amount of racists in this thread/my mentions saying the most disgusting things, and not understanding why the photo is problematic.
It’s so disappointing. Goodnight. x
— Stephanie Yeboah (@NerdAboutTown) January 7, 2018
And here are some of the most shared responses.
1.
That obviously isn't meant to be racist. It's only offensive if you choose for it to be, which you have.
— George 💎 (@hcafcgeorge) January 7, 2018
2.
People who see this as racist are calling the kid a monkey. If you’re matching the monkey connotation to the child then surely you’re calling him a monkey.
I see a lovely black boy. And a cute little monkey jumper. Anyone see anything else?
— 💄 (@Shnapped) January 7, 2018
3.
micro aggressions are real. Companies should always consider how things could be perceived. There were multiple sweatshirt/jump options & for some reason they decided to put him in that one. Even if it wasn't the goal enough people saw it & should have considered this outcome
— latasha (@iLAugh_out_loud) January 8, 2018
4.
I think this is it. I want to assume that nothing was intended but… companies (all of us really) need to pay attention to the unintended implications of our speech.
— Jeremy Duncan (@duncanjeremy) January 8, 2018
5.
I can't imagine that not one single person down the long line of people who approved thought this might not be a great idea. If that did happen HM has more problems than one. If no one on their team can be sensitive to these types of issues
— latasha (@iLAugh_out_loud) January 8, 2018
6.
omds I was checking for this on their site and they have this jumper in different colours but with different quotes pic.twitter.com/IRAsPOLTqf
— damilola (@damssss_) January 7, 2018
7.
That’s called completely different jumpers
— 🐐 (@ffzMatt) January 7, 2018
8.
It's tone-deaf AF. Either it occurred to NO ONE that it could even potentially offend or be misinterpreted (which is irresponsible branding), or they didn't care.
— ΛJ (@alanajoy) January 7, 2018
9.
Girl I’m MORE interested to know why his parents signed off on this!!
— Rockaletta Moss (@QueenKenz7851) January 7, 2018
Here’s what H&M said.
“This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologise to anyone this may have offended.”
Free H&M clothes for life, but only if he wants them.
