H&M Racism storm

Blacks and Whites should be treated equally. Not allowing a black person to advertise a certain type of clothing is racist.

It's getting to the point where you can't even say the word black. We'll know when we've hit full retard when the word is ***** out.

There is an ongoing complaint within my workplace at present. There is a poster on the wall of four people covered in black (it's a silhouette). Yep, it's been taken down because one person complained it was racists.

IT'S A SILHOUETTE!!!!!! or are we banning those now?

ATTENTION ALL IDIOTS

This is NOT racist!

silhouettes-of-people-talking_1048-5221.jpg
 
Damn right they should apologise. Who thought that was a good idea, really.

They didn’t even need to use that picture. They’ve since removed it and just use pictures without the model..

I wouldn’t have thought it was malicious, just a stupid mistake.

Social media storm is predictable though. From “OMG boycott these horrible racists” to “OMG what’s wrong with today’s generation of pussies” etc etc
 
Tunney said:
I’m sure that it was thoughtlessness rather than racism that led to this photo but it’s still a racial slur.

Check out the darkest parts of the Daily Mail comments section, Twitter or Reddit. It’s a slur that’s still in use today.
Click to expand...

You don’t have to even go that far, aren’t bananas still thrown at black footballers every now and again?
 
There's nothing racist about it but unfortunately people will easily find offense in stuff like this now and whoever was in charge of marketing should have been more aware of the current climate.
 
I can see it's an issue. If it was a white kid in the top it wouldn't have raised an eyebrow but it's the historical context of the racist term.

However, apparently the kids mother was ok with this?
 
Where H&M really went wrong is in using a little boy. Should have had both a boy and a girl.

:edit: Nope, that's wrong now isn't it. Is it non gender? or perhaps ageist?

Nan and Grandad?
 
Zatoichi.uK said:
When you see everything through the lens of race...
Click to expand...

Agree, Racism will only ever end when people stop thinking in terms of Race.

I see a child in a Green hoodie with a common term used to describe children on it slightly changed to be a positive for the child, "Cheeky Monkey" to "Coolest Monkey"...

World has gone crazy! :(
 
J.T said:
Agree, Racism will only ever end when people stop thinking in terms of Race.

I see a child in a Green hoodie with a common term used to describe children on it slightly changed to be a positive for the child, "Cheeky Monkey" to "Coolest Monkey"...
Click to expand...

You do.
I do.

But it's the sort of thing a racist person would laugh about if they saw a black kid wearing that.
 
VincentHanna said:
You do.
I do.

But it's the sort of thing a racist person would laugh about if they saw a black kid wearing that.
Click to expand...

Yet the opposite is happening, all the people offended by it are giving it power to offend.

Words only have power if people give them power.
 
I see 'Bird Nest Hair' (The Weeknd) has cut ties with H&M because it's so racist - how are we going to survive.

They dropped the ball but this is ridiculous. I am surprised we aren't seeing weekly stories of teachers or parents getting done for calling their black children "cheeky little monkeys".
 
The race card is so over used that legitimate concerns are losing credibility. As I said in the random images thread H&M could've swapped two jumpers around on the models and nobody would've batted an eye, but as is they left themselves open to this. That said, I don't think they saw it as racist and certainly weren't expecting someone to be offended by it.

Christ, peoole have comkitted genocide over skin colour but let's be offended by a kids' jumper. Some people need a good reality check.
 
I have a solution to this.....we should just ban all of these terms:

A splash of colour
African American
After dark
Coal
Black ink
Pitch black (including the film and it's related sequels)
Baa baa black sheep
Black Beauty
Black Friday
Black Hawk Down
Black Mamba (person and snake)
Black and white (and monochrome as it's not inclusive enough)
Black magic
Black out
Black tie
Black water rafting (no idea what this is but intrigued......)
Colour coded
Dark humour
Ebony and ivory
Fifty Shades of Grey (we can all unite in this one)
Johnny Walker Black
In the dark
Dark and stormy (the drink)
Men in Black (sorry Will)
NWA
Paint It Black
Pitch black
Stab in the dark (clearly racist aggravated humour)
The term, text, picture or actual monkey can't be within 6 feet of a black person

Ban them before any Points of Views zealots decide to get offended.
 
ok, I genuinely don't understand this so if someone does I'd like them to educate me please.

Why are golliwog dolls banned, yet other black dolls are sold in toysrus? is it a historical thing with racial meaning? genuine question
 
Glanza said:
Oh look people on Twitter up in arms about something yet again.
Click to expand...

You can't see how this a tiny little bit brain dead of someone to create this photo shoot of a black child in a top with the phrase 'Coolest monkey in the jungle'?

I mean, you have to be totally brain dead and not aware of history to even begin to think, oh hang on a second, maybe this isn't quite right.

I am not saying I am up in arms over this, as lets face it, there has been tops with the word monkey on, like cheeky little monkey etc for years now, but to set this shoot up in today's age, I mean come on, that's a special kind of stupid all day long.

The funny part is that nobody along the chain of command said for a second, hang on, what's going on here then is even more laughable.
 
Craterloads said:
You don’t have to even go that far, aren’t bananas still thrown at black footballers every now and again?
Click to expand...
Yes, and the difference here is one of intent. People throwing bananas at black people are equating them to monkeys because of the colour of their skin, and that's both offensive and racist. In this case, a child is equated to a monkey because of their behaviour, i.e. they're cheeky, and while that might be a bit offensive to a child who *isn't* cheeky, it's certainly not racist. I can see how it's easy to conflate the two. One might think though that a child (or parent of said child) choosing to wear the item of clothing negates the more sinister explanation.

Having said all that, with any terminology there comes a point where common knowledge overrides intent. For example, a white person using the 'n' term is always going to look bad regardless of intent, so it's one of those things that we know is socially unacceptable and we don't do it. In this case, I'd say it's not clear whether the use of 'monkey' as a slur overrides its use as a term of familiarity or endearment. I think that a big company like H&M ought to have been more sensitive to how this could be taken, and the picture will have gone across enough desks that you'd hope someone might say "hang on a sec..." so they're probably right to take it down and apologise. I don't think that a huge outcry is necessary though. Accept that it was ill-advised, accept the apology and move on. If they don't learn from it and do it again, by all means get the pitchforks out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom