Watch: Protesters Trashing H&M’s In South Africa Over Racist Ad
Source: Protesters have stormed H&M stores in South Africa, pushing over mannequins and tearing down racks of clothing after one of the retail giant’s ads was branded “racist”.
H&M became embroiled in a racism controversy after an advertisement showing a black child model wearing a hoodie that said “coolest monkey in the jungle” was posted to the clothing chain’s website.
The image copped widespread criticism, with US singer The Weekend among those to voice his distaste, saying he was “shocked and embarrassed”.
“I’m deeply offended and will not be working with [H&M] anymore,” he tweeted.
Video footage posted to social media on Saturday (local time) showed supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters — a South African political party — outside the Clearwater Mall in Johannesburg blocking access to the store.
Protesters were wearing red and dancing and singing outside department stores. Some held signs that said “H&M say ‘hello’ to coolest monkeys” and “away with H&M racist tendencies”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knqXy9OOJfA
Social media users also reported protests at other stores in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Police were called to the stores, with South African media reporting rubber bullets were used on demonstrators.
Some were critical of the protest, saying the EFF had timed it to coincide with birthday celebrations for the ruling African National Congress party.
“EFF chose today to pull these antics to take away some attention from #ANC106 celebrations,” Phil Mphela wrote. “Don’t be naive and think this is only about H&M.”
In a statement posted to Instagram last week, H&M said it had removed the advertisement and garment.
“Our position is simple — we have got this wrong and we are deeply sorry,” the statement said.
“We have a responsibility to be aware of and attuned to all racial and cultural sensitivities — and we have not lived up to this responsibility this time.”
H&M said despite the incident being “accidental in nature”, it still took it seriously and understood the upset and discomfort it had caused.
“We have taken down the image and we have removed the garment,” the statement said.
“We will now be doing everything we possibly can to prevent this from happening again in future.
“We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print.
“Therefore, we’ve not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering.”
H&M said procedures had not been followed properly and the company would thoroughly investigate why the incident happened.
We will file this one under the – “yes, we saw this coming” folder and rightfully so. We don’t condone going “ninja-style” and destroying somebody’s business, but if there ever was a time to justify actions, this may be exactly the time.
FYI-The mother of the boy came out recently and said “get over it” as she gave the go-ahead for the boy to wear the sweater in the ad.
Mom, of course, handles the financials, so we certainly know where she is coming from…
Shug McSween
Shug McSween is a veteran here at DeanBlundell.com and has been contributing since day one. A sports nut with a sophisticated opinion, expect McSween to cover any and everything he's passionate about. When he's not busy writing and editing for our crew, McSween likes to get away via fairways and greens. He also contributes to The Hockey Writers, NHLTradeRumors.me and BballRumors.com