Everyone is flaming H&M for their wild racist ad and you should too
H&M just became the lamest retailer brand in the culture jungle. So much so that even The Weeknd, who started modeling for the global brand last year, has severed all ties with them according to TMZ.
He’s not alone. H&M retail consumers have also expressed their anger with many vowing to stop shopping at its stores after a racist product ad surfaced on their UK site.
The ad showed a cute Black boy sporting a forest green hoodie, with the words “coolest monkey in the jungle,” printed in all caps on the front.
Upon waking up this morning, The Weeknd felt “shocked and embarrassed” by H&M’s photo.
woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. i’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore… pic.twitter.com/P3023iYzAb
— The Weeknd (@theweeknd) January 8, 2018
The backlash doesn’t stop there. Roots drummer Questlove also weighed in on the stupidest marketing move of all time.
On IG, he posted the same racist product ad and wrote about the many apologies that will inevitably come from the retail brand, the grand gesture of donating to a charity after something like this happens, and speculated that H&M’s boardroom is probably missing Black voices.
His prediction of an apology was right. H&M issued a statement that said,
“We sincerely apologize for offending people with this image of a printed hooded top… 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.”
What he and other consumers didn’t predict is that in lieu of the apology, H&M still hasn’t pulled the actual hoodie from the site. IT’S STILL THERE!
The fact that they won’t pull the hoodie off the site after an embarrassing and offensive mistake like this shows how much H&M really doesn’t really get it.
And trust, because of this, H&M’s Facebook page is under the volcano. As we scrolled through the flames there were a couple of posts that caught my eye.
One person out of Philly said simply, “Fkn disgrace!”
Another comment read,
“We live in a world where so many people get offended and normally I don’t get offended. Nor, am I offended by this due to sheer stupidity with comedy as to how and the heck would anyone not think that this comes across as racist?! Way to go H&M cause whomever in charge should probably be fired.”
The roasting kept going as the feed also included a white boy wearing an orange hoodie with a Ritz Cracker box photoshopped on the front.
Before finally realizing that I couldn’t read anymore the last post I read was,
“They removed the picture but are still selling the item. THAT MAKES IS WORSE. Now they’re trying to COVER IT UP. They should be ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES.”