Chain retailer H&M is having a bad day after receiving a huge backlash today for a “racist” ad that was posted on their website and it went viral.
What went wrong?
H&M decided to dress up a young black boy in a hoody that reads “Coolest monkey in the jungle”, while another young white boy is dressed in a matching hoody, but it reads: “survival expert”.
Ofcourse this wasn’t going to be an easy one for H&M, looking at the massive and tasteless scenarios where black people have experienced over years, including comparison to monkeys.
The company later apologized and removed the image;
“This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologize to anyone this may have offended,” said H&M (HNNMY) spokeswoman Anna Eriksson.
But it was already late and much damage was done. Even The Weeknd (who has done a number of collaborations with the retail giant) jumped in to make it clear that he is offended by this act and won’t be doing anymore work with them.
“woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. i’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore…,” he tweeted.
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