H&M Under Fire, Again, For Racism

After celebrities began bringing attention to a distasteful H&M advertisement, the retail giant issued an apology. A young black boy was pictured wearing a graphic hoodie with “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle” in bold print. The photo was featured on the H&M U.K. website. 

Diddy, Lebron James, Jesse Williams and others have spoken out and shared their thoughts on the H&M advertisement. Jesse Williams was recently featured in their holiday campaign with Nicki Minaj. Williams stepped in to Instagram to share his thoughts, "These offenses are more about the makeup of the rooms where they happen, than the items they produce. There is a concentration of power, committed to exclusion, whether casual, accidental or conscious." Williams continued. "So when i laid eyes on it, my initial reaction was neither shock nor anger. It was boredom. This old world, white power, failing-upward culture of reckless trampling that repeatedly exposes itself, is boring already. Aren’t you bored?"

So many other artists, activists, and organizations are infuriated and have announced that they will no longer be supporting H&M. Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye launched an 18-piece collection with H&M September 2017. His collection featured parkas, hoodies, bombers, and basic tees. 

Tesfaye took to Twitter to share that he will be discontinuing business with the H&M brand. “I’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore,” he explained.

An apology statement was issued by H&M for the photo. “We sincerely apologize for offending people with this image of a printed hooded top. The image has been removed from all online channels and the product will not be for sale in the United States. We believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do and will be reviewing all our internal policies accordingly to avoid any future issues." Social media is not satisfied with the apology and thought it was rather insincere.

This isn’t H&M’s first racial marketing incident. In 2015, the retail brand was slammed for racism over a racist tweet. H&M launched new store locations in South Africa and none of its advertisements featured Black models. A Cape Town resident, Tlalane Lethlaku, noticed this and tweeted the fashion brand.

“ I was at your CT store.Most, if not all your posters in store have no black models.Please work on that to appeal to everyone,” Lethlaku tweeted.  Shortly after The H&M South Africa team responded back. They stated that they wanted their marketing to portray positive and inspiring messages. “H&M’s marketing has a major impact and it’s essential for us to convey for us to convey a positive image” H&M South Africa replied. 

Many were enraged because it was implied that Black people do not convey positivity and inspiration. They really dug themselves into a hole with that one.

It doesn’t need to be said but H&M needs better people aboard their public relations and marketing team. Situations like this are highly unacceptable. The fashion conglomerate desperately need to work on better diversity and inclusion.

#HM #racism #hoodie #fashion