More controversy continues to brew even after Swedish highstreet clothing brand H&M issued an apology over a racially insensitive ad used to promote a hoodie with text ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. The ad which featured a black child wearing the hoodie has sparked off so much backlash, everyone is cutting ties with the brand.
The weekend was the first celebrity to publicly cut all ties with H&M. “I’m deeply offended and will not be working with H&M anymore,” he said on Twitter. Rapper G-Eazy followed suit. Then, P Diddy announced that he is offering the young model featured in the ad a modeling gig with his clothing brand. Lebron James has also joined the list blasting taking to Twitter to blast H&M. Nicki Minaj who starred in the brand’s holiday campaign has quietly deleted all Instagram posts she used to promote the campaign.
Several customers tweeted to say the company had “missed the mark” calling the choice of text and model “racist” and “irresponsible ”. Others called for a boycott, while the rest wondered if there was anyone insensitive enough to sign off such an idea, pointing out that comparing black people to monkeys has for long been used as a racial slur.
In response, H&M has since apologized, removed the image from their website and went ahead to say “we completely understand and agree with his (The Weekend) reaction to the image”. They added that they regret the actual print and they’ve had the image removed from all their channels and the hoodie is no longer on sale in their store.
“H&M clothing brand carries the responsibility to be aware of and attune to all racial and cultural sensitivities that have led to the upset and discomfort of the black community. In regard to all this, H&M clothing brand says they will be doing everything they possibly can to prevent this from happening again in the future,” they shared in a statement.
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