H&M faces customer boycott over 'racist' hoodie advertising campaign

[explorerzip]

This micro-aggressive behavior is becoming very tiresome. I find it ironic that people are getting offended about words on a sweatshirt that was made in Bangladesh. Sooner or later, you won't be able to print any words on a shirt because at least one of them will be offensive.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-boycott-advertising-people-h-m-a8149246.html

 

[ravencroft]

I'm black and even my first reaction is: "Oh for the love of Christ they weren't calling the little Black Boy a monkey".

Kids find monkeys cool (like that game Barrel of Monkeys, Curious George, etc.) and this is at worst, a case of casual cluelessness on the advertising team's part. Was it necessarily the best idea? No. Was it deliberate racism? HELL NO. "Cultural insensitivity" is as far as I'd condemn it, but short of handing every non-Black person a codified Urban Dictionary of every pejorative term ever used against Black People in the history of mankind, such innocent gaffes are going to happen from time to time.

Know what would be really cool though? If people didn't even know to get offended anymore because the thought of a Black Person being confused with a monkey never even once crossed their minds/conversations. Hopefully one day with increasing multiculturalism kids won't even know such offensive slurs existed in the first place.

 

[explorerzip]

Hopefully one day with increasing multiculturalism kids won't even know such offensive slurs existed in the first place.

I'd say most non-Blacks didn't even know that "monkey" was offensive until this issue was brought up. Hopefully one day, people can tell the difference between truly offensive issues and non-issues like this.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

Was there not a white child wearing something like "King of the Juggle"?

I could have sworn I heard something about that and that added fuel to the fire. White = ruler, Black = monkey?

 

[explorerzip]

Was there not a white child wearing something like "King of the Juggle"?

I could have sworn I heard something about that and that added fuel to the fire. White = ruler, Black = monkey?

I think this is the pic you're referring to and the white kid's shirt does not say "King of the Jungle": https://twitter.com/SirMaejor/statu...-boycott-advertising-people-h-m-a8149246.html

 

[apoptygma]

My brother-in-law calls my 6 year old white niece 'his little monkey'.
At the risk of being roasted for stating the obvious: people are too fucking sensitive these days.

 

[Jasmina]

The sweater may have been created over seas, but I doubt the ad campaign was. How many hands did the photo proof go through before it was actually released? Surely someone along that line should have known that the term "monkey" has historically been derogatory? I get why people are upset, it was a pretty big fuck up.

 

[Smallcock]

Surely someone along that line should have known that the term "monkey" has historically been derogatory?

Maybe someone did but realized that it's not derogatory any longer, and that anyone can and should be able to wear a shirt with a monkey on it. Apparently the child's parents didn't mind.

This is an utterly stupid overreaction.

 

[blueray]

Monkey has always been a derogatory term and still very prevalent today, especially in Europe where H&M headquarters is located. It shocks me that it passed all the check and balances advertising goes through to be approved.

 

[shack]

I'd say most non-Blacks didn't even know that "monkey" was offensive until this issue was brought up.

Howard Cosell got into trouble about 40 years ago for a play by play where he said, "Look at that little monkey run." It was a fairly short black running back. Anyways, back then all he had to do was apologize. Nowadays he'd probably lose hos job and get sent to jail in Mississippi.

Regardless, my point is that it has been considered inappropriate for quite some time.

 

[Smallcock]

Monkey has always been a derogatory term and still very prevalent today, especially in Europe where H&M headquarters is located. It shocks me that it passed all the check and balances advertising goes through to be approved.

Howard Cosell got into trouble about 40 years ago for a play by play where he said, "Look at that little monkey run." It was a fairly short black running back. Anyways, back then all he had to do was apologize. Nowadays he'd probably lose hos job and get sent to jail in Mississippi.

Regardless, my point is that it has been considered inappropriate for quite some time.

Even if all of the above is true, the people behind this campaign of outrage against H&M are the same people that propelled Trump to victory in the USA.

 

[blueray]

Howard Cosell got into trouble about 40 years ago for a play by play where he said, "Look at that little monkey run." It was a fairly short black running back.

It was 83' I believe.

Today, the soccer leagues across Europe have a tough time with fans mocking opposing players who are black....jumping up and down and scratching their armpits. In Italy the fans do it to their own players in some cities.

 

[explorerzip]

Monkey has always been a derogatory term and still very prevalent today, especially in Europe where H&M headquarters is located. It shocks me that it passed all the check and balances advertising goes through to be approved.

You're assuming that everyone knows that "monkey" is derogatory. I honestly had no idea what the meaning of it was until this story. Is the shirt still offensive if you put it on a non-black kid? Probably not, which makes this controversy even more silly.

 

[explorerzip]

It was 83' I believe.

Today, the soccer leagues across Europe have a tough time with fans mocking opposing players who are black....jumping up and down and scratching their armpits. In Italy the fans do it to their own players in some cities.

Which is a very long time ago. The photographer, stylist, and many other people working for the ad agency might not even been born yet. The designer of the shirt probably wasn't even born yet.

 

[blueray]

You're assuming that everyone knows that "monkey" is derogatory. I honestly had no idea what the meaning of it was until this story.

I find that shocking actually. But I guess it's a good thing that you didn't know the term is derogatory. 83' is a very long time ago, but as I mentioned, it is still a very derogatory term in Europe today.

 

[superstar_88]

recall when a fan threw a banana onto the ice when Wayne Simmons of the Flyers was taking a penalty shot. There's no other way to interpret that. Racist indeed.

 

[bigbangupper]

Probably unintentional, but don't these huge fashion companies have an army of overpaid marketing execs to ensure that stuff like this doesn't happen?

 

[Occasionally]

The reason why people find anything to do with Blacks and monkeys stereotypical and racist is because people have in their mind an association and correlation with it.

So in reality they are the racists.

If you stop thinking like "someone being oppressed by white dudes" and trying to find hidden meanings in everything, you won't feel the racism. And you will stop thinking like a peon. Hold yourself up high and live life.

Heck, I'm typing on a laptop right now that is very dark grey/black. Do I think this laptop is a black guy where the owner (me) is an overlord ruling it where it does everything I do? No. But there is probably some guy out there in the world that thinks this.

I only saw these H&M shirts because it has been raging on the past day or two. But if I didn't see these articles and I saw an ad with a bunch of 7 year olds with colourful shirts on, that's what it is to me..... a bunch of kids with shirts on.

You tell me why a Black kid with "coolest monkey in the jungle" is racist, but if a non-Black kid had the same shirt it would be ignored. Let's hear the answers and see what racial viewpoint everyone has.

 

[explorerzip]

Probably unintentional, but don't these huge fashion companies have an army of overpaid marketing execs to ensure that stuff like this doesn't happen?

H&M is on the low end side of fashion. I doubt they think about every possible consequence of their design let alone have an army of marketing execs. The marketing and advertising might be totally outsourced.

 

[explorerzip]

You tell me why a Black kid with "coolest monkey in the jungle" is racist, but if a non-Black kid had the same shirt it would be ignored. Let's hear the answers and see what racial viewpoint everyone has.

Exactly. It doesn't make sense that the shirt is offensive when a black kid wears, but not when any other kid does.