This isn't about "Cheeky Little Monkey" as that in itself would be tenuous, it's about him being the Coolest Monkey in the Jungle, at least two racial slurs are presented in that one top, but yes, I still agree, people get too hung up on this kind of thing. It was like the one a few months back about "Boys will be boys" and some leftie woman with a sewn up vagina decalred war because that implies the kid could grow up to be 18, rape someone, and be let off because, you know, boys will be boys.....
H&M Racism storm
- Thread starter Robbo
- Start date
Soldato
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a calculated 'mistake' for some free viral marketing. It seems a bit too obvious to have slipped past the many eyes that will have seen it before release.
Soldato
i don't believe that for 1 second unless they are 4 years old, blind deaf or dumb i cannot believe that no one under 25 in your work place was aware that the term monkey has been used as a racial slur before. ( i don't mean i don't believe you, i just mean your colleagues may not be telling the truth)
you have to have made that up surely?
Soldato
Jesus wept
Soldato
- Joined
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So is the term 'Spade', yet shops can still sell the things without calling them a 'manual excavation implement'.... and David Spade is still getting work without too much hindrance!!
Or that he is... #That'sOurWord
If none of them think that way in the first place, then no....
Back when I was younger, I learned more about racism from watching Blazing Saddles and a comedy sketch between Richard Pryor & Chevy Chase than I ever did from the world around me.
I'd reason, that because things have gotten better in teh past few decades, it's quite feasible kids don't know much more than the N-Word and perhaps a couple of terms from Rap/R&B...
Soldato
i agree but i don't know many kids that are of working age
i was going roughly off of the age bracket 18-25 year olds - those i cannot believe have never heard of this being used as a slur. 1 or 2 out of a large group maybe, but not in general.
Soldato
Soldato
sweet ******* jesus.
has anyone actually successfully argued down a rape claim with the response 'but boys will be boys'!?
Man of Honour
Huh? How does that work?
Maybe they didn't think it was a problem.
Don
If you're not racist you would never think that it was racist because it's a common term for young kids regardless of race, ergo you need to consider the kids race into whether it's racist which is a tacit admission your racist yourself because you're now treating him differently to whether it was a white kid wearing it.
Racists see it as racist, everyone else sees a kid in a hoodie.
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Soldato
I honestly don't see the problem and agree with the above that kids (no matter the colour of their skin) have always been called 'cheeky little monkeys'. The media and well, just easily offended people getting their knickers in a twist and fancying a whinge per usual.
Exactly this! Sometimes people seem to actively want to take offence at things which obviously have no intent behind them. White kids being referred to as a 'little monkey' is a daily occurrence. When it's a black kid somehow it becomes headline news!
We're entirely too sensitive these days when it comes to commenting about race, gender, sexual preference religion, etc for fear of someone taking offence.
Man of Honour
But should we deliberately give racist people so much power that they control adverts, that they dictate what is and is not to be shown in the media? Is that a good thing to do?
H&M's marketing department should have picked up on what some racist people in some parts of the world might think. They should also have picked up on what some other racist people might say about H&M as a result of this advert. And yes, those people are racist too. Their entire viewpoint is based solely on the idea that a person's "race" is what defines them and what should determine how they are treated - that's racism. In short, H&M's marketing department should have done a better job of protecting H&M from racists. But that doesn't mean H&M is racist. It's far more likely that the people approving the ad are not racist, which was why they didn't make any distinction between a "black" child and a "white" child. Unlike the racists complaining about the advert.
Agreed, the perpetually offended twitterati and forum posters (on both sides) will have a field day, meanwhile most people will just shrug and go “meh”, how did that get past sign off, even though it probably wasn’t even considered/meant to be racist.