H&M sh*t storm

[lcfc sheff]

Not sure if this has already been posted somewhere else, if so I apologise. 

 

I'd like to know what peoples opinion is on the h&m disaster that's been sweeping the internet the last fews day; was it intentional racism or just people always seeing the worst in things?

[Buce]

 

 Personally, I think it's nonsense.

 

People have been urging equality of ethnic representation in advertising for ages. This is one of those cases where people are seeing racism where it doesn't exist.

[Finnegan]

 

That's amazing, who on earth thought that would ever go without comment? 

 

Don't get me wrong, it's clearly not racist, we call kids little monkeys all the time with literally zero connotation. 

 

But that was always going to cause a stir. 

[Houdini Logic]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[Jon the Hat]

It was clearly a misjudgment to use the picture, but it isn't racist.  One assumes the kid, his parents, the photographer and picture editor, website picture guy didn't think for a second it was otherwise they wouldn't have picked it.

[RowlattsFox]

I fail to see how this could be deliberate, but someone should probably have thought, hang on a minute we might need to change that.

 

Really though, its just a young boy wearing a hoody with a monkey on it.

[Marmite]

The people who look at it that way are the ones who are racist. 

[Captain...]

Just out  of interest what is the demographic of those calling it racist?

 

To progress towards an equal society we need to move beyond making those links between normal everyday words used in an everyday context, like monkey and jungle and black and white and immediately applying racial connotations. Whilst we still have the opinion that calling a white kid a little monkey in an affectionate way is ok, but not a black kid then we will never have equality. The  problem is for that to happen we need people to stop using these words in a racial context. Fair play to H&M for having such complete colourblindness to  not even see the possible racial connection. (Or everyone involved was foreign/ignorant) Shame on those who have subjected the young model to the  racial oppression of the real world.

[Buce]

1 minute ago, Captain... said:

Just out  of interest what is the demographic of those calling it racist?

 

To progress towards an equal society we need to move beyond making those links between normal everyday words used in an everyday context, like monkey and jungle and black and white and immediately applying racial connotations. Whilst we still have the opinion that calling a white kid a little monkey in an affectionate way is ok, but not a black kid then we will never have equality. The  problem is for that to happen we need people to stop using these words in a racial context. Fair play to H&M for having such complete colourblindness to  not even see the possible racial connection. (Or everyone involved was foreign/ignorant) Shame on those who have subjected the young model to the  racial oppression of the real world.

 

The comments that I have seen are from the BEM community, though I don't doubt the liberal, white lets-show-how-right-on-we-are brigade will have jumped on it like a ton of shit.

[Jattdogg]

I'm biracial and wont call this racist. I think given the sensitivity of the word monkey and how it has been and still is used against the black community in a racial manner one can see how it was a bit daft to put a black kid in the top.

 

I dont think its racist at all but just bad judgement. People are over sensitive at times and will always jump to the worst conclusion first. If his parents were fine with it than clearly it wasnt considered racist to them.

Edited 10 January 2018 by Jattdogg

[Lovejoy]

It was a bit silly of H&M. I'm someone who generally gets exasperated by political correctness, but this was always going to get them in trouble.

[Strokes]

47 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

 Personally, I think it's nonsense.

 

People have been urging equality of ethnic representation in advertising for ages. This is one of those cases where people are seeing racism where it doesn't exist.

Quite, in my eyes this is the exact opposite of racism. 

How it made it to the catalogue without someone saying something though, is remarkable.

[Babylon]

It's very naive, how it passes quality control is beyond me. I understand why people have pulled them up on it, but I also think the outrage has been a bit disproportionate. They clearly aren't attempting to say the kid is a monkey. As others say, people need to move beyond these links to normal every day words.

 

Imagine being stood at the shoot, they are handing out clothes to all the kids and someone innocently hands him that. I'd imagine it'd be more upsetting for the kid or the parents if someone suddenly wandered over to them and said, oh you can't wear that as people might think we're calling you a monkey. That seems far worse than actually just letting the kid model a quite innocent top.

[Strokes]

He does look a pretty cool dude though tbf.

[Merging Cultures]

I agree with those saying it is bad judgement but not racist.

[Finnegan]

I've actually done a uturn since I first saw it and now think it's actually excellent judgement and has probably been done intentionally. 

 

I mean who gives a **** about h&ms latest shit cheap hoody normally? Now we've all seen it and have a view. 

[Finnegan]

16 minutes ago, Strokes said:

He does look a pretty cool dude though tbf.

 

Ngl, he's better dressed than most my mates. 

[lcfc sheff]

after the PC shit storm of 2017 I feel H&M should have known better, but find it hard to believe h&m had people who wanted this to be posted for some sort of racist gain? it's ridiculous to think they'd gain anything from this for that matter like ive seen some people suggest on twitter.

[lcfc sheff]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

I've actually done a uturn since I first saw it and now think it's actually excellent judgement and has probably been done intentionally. 

 

I mean who gives a **** about h&ms latest shit cheap hoody normally? Now we've all seen it and have a view. 

I know the saying "all bad publicity is good publicity" but not sure how it would help a clothes store to be racist, with boycotts no doubt to occur. Surely the kids parent's wouldn't have let it be posted online if they had deemed it racist themselves? (I'm sure we'll get their side of the story soon)

[lcfc sheff]

1 hour ago, RowlattsFox said:

I fail to see how this could be deliberate, but someone should probably have thought, hang on a minute we might need to change that.

 

Really though, its just a young boy wearing a hoody with a monkey on it.

would the person who suggested been shut down themselves though for suggesting it?

[Finnegan]

8 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

I know the saying "all bad publicity is good publicity" but not sure how it would help a clothes store to be racist, with boycotts no doubt to occur. Surely the kids parent's wouldn't have let it be posted online if they had deemed it racist themselves? (I'm sure we'll get their side of the story soon)

 

They'll apologise publicly no doubt and go "oh we probably should have thought" but ninety percent of the public are going to go "well, we call kids monkeys all the time, it's obviously pc gone mad" etc and we're all going to get a look at their new kids range which nobody will have considered previously. 

[lcfc sheff]

19 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

They'll apologise publicly no doubt and go "oh we probably should have thought" but ninety percent of the public are going to go "well, we call kids monkeys all the time, it's obviously pc gone mad" etc and we're all going to get a look at their new kids range which nobody will have considered previously. 

To me personally it seems too elaborate of an idea, i'd honestly hope it wasn't intentional, but with what you're saying it is always a possibility

[TiffToff88]

It's not racist. BUT i can see why people have been offended by it. I wonder if there would be the same amount of backlash if they had a black kid and a white kid modeling the same top?

Edited 10 January 2018 by TiffToff88

[Benguin]

People who have a problem with it are the real racists. 

[lgfualol]

Poor judgement by H&M but some of the reactions are way OTT. It's just a kid's jumper. It's not like H&M are actually racist.