Brands Never Gave a Damn2 min read

I have like four or five flannel shirts I enjoyed wearing from H&M.

After their latest nonsense, I’ll have to spend my money wisely.

This week, Swedish fashion retailer H&M caused outrage worldwide after their latest marketing campaign had racial undertones with a particular hoodie.

A young Black model posed in a green hoodie with the words “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” written on the front caused the Internet to go in a frenzy.

Obviously H&M put the pictures down immediately but the damage had already been done.

Some of the world’s most popular celebrities came in unison to denounce the retailer’s marketing blunder.

Brand ambassadors The Weeknd and G-Eazy ended their partnership with the company for its ‘disturbing’ and ‘racially insensitive’ nature.

While sports personalities Romelu Lukaku and LeBron James reposted the image on their social media pages, replacing the original text on the hoodie with words of positivity, such as ‘Black is Beautiful’.

H&M isn’t the only culprit behind marketing disasters as throughout the last millennia, corporations across all mediums have racial slurs depicted into their products.

From early Disney’s deliberate black face to Kellogg’s ‘accidental’ dark skin cleaner on a cereal box filled with yellow characters.

The difference today is that corporations take out their mistakes when immediately spotted and issue a lengthy apology.

But are those apologies even sincere?

The way I see it, all these big corporations do not really care about race or religion or disabilities or sexual preferences, they want to make a profit.

You could argue that actor variety in commercials is progress but at the same time, companies are looking to make a profit based on what is trending in society.

10 year ago, where were all the adverts from Coca Cola showcasing LGBT pride or Amazon’s religious harmony?

These minority groups have been marginalised for so long but it isn’t until they make the front page do these companies pay attention, so they can make a good sale from a new target audience.

If you were so concerned about racial harmony, you wouldn’t make these mistakes in the first place as a multi-national retailer.

Remember to ask yourselves that whenever they put out a sorry…do they really mean it? Or are they trying to save the sales?