H&M removes ‘black boy’ ad after racism accusation

Swedish clothing giant Hennes and Mauritz on Monday apologised and removed an advertisement of a black child after the company was accused of being racist on social media.

A photo on the company’s online website of a black boy wearing a green hoodie with the inscription “coolest monkey in the jungle” triggered outrage among observers.

“Whose idea was it at @hm to have this little sweet black boy wear a jumper that says ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’?” style blogger Stephanie Yeboah tweeted on Sunday.

“You do know that monkey is a known racial slur to black people right?” she added.

“The image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologise to anyone this may have offended,” the company told AFP.

A generic photo of the hooded sweatshirt without the modelling child is still available online.

H&M is not the only major company to be hit by an advertisement scandal in recent years.

Spanish clothing brand Zara in 2014 removed a striped pyjamas with a yellow star after facing outrage over its resemblance to clothes worn by Jewish prisoners in concentration camps.

And in October last year, personal care brand Dove apologised after it was accused of racism for airing a commercial showing a black woman turning into a white woman after removing her top.

This is what tweeps had to say about the controversial ad:

You’ll never see me at H&M.

— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) January 8, 2018

As far as this racist #HM ad, the people of the H & M company knew EXACTLY what they were doing and they anticipated the backlash. This is their coded way of tapping into the white supremacist demographic. Racists buy clothes too, and these companies want those bigoted dollars pic.twitter.com/e0ZUa0Mmyt

— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) January 9, 2018

https://twitter.com/Y2Dre_/status/950609111577657344

Not buying from H&M no more…:/

— Cash (@CashNasty) January 9, 2018

Bathong H&M!!! Ke e rata yana!😩

— Two Oceans Runner (@Tlotlikins) January 9, 2018

https://twitter.com/ChocCityComics/status/950581756779954176

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