Every time a fashion brand has been in the news lately, it’s been because of a product that’s come under fire for having racist undertones.

Some brands that come into recent memory are H&M, Gucci, Burberry, and Prada. All these brands have had to pull items off their store because of either bad management and plain disregard for maintaining ethical values or to gain publicity by releasing a controversial item then quickly releasing it on the market to grab attention. 

H&M (Coolest Monkey Hoodie)

H&M came under major fire last year in January when they decided to release an ad that featured a black child wearing a hoodie with the words “coolest monkey in the jungle” written on the front of it. This drew major backlash from social media from several prominent black figures and even had artists like The Weeknd and G-Eazy cut their ties with the brand, potentially costing the company millions. H&M quickly later removed the picture and apologized publicly.

Gucci (Balaclava Knit Top Black)

Gucci this month released a sweater that had remarkably similar traits to how many racist cartoons used to draw blacks. After the public outcry, Gucci issued an apology stating and then removed the product from the website and stores. Social media was quick to point out the irony of Gucci releasing this product on black history month and the implications that companies think that its okay to put merchandise like this out on their shelves and have it represent their brand seems wildly irresponsible.

Burberry (Slipknot Hoodie)

This same month, Burberry showed off their latest Autumn-Winter collection at London fashion week. In their new collection was a hoodie with drawstrings tied together as a skip-knot, angering all people from suicide activists to black people saying it was a disgrace and brought back images of lynching cultures.

Ricardo Ticci, the creative director for Burberry stated:

“While the design was inspired by a nautical theme, I realise that it was insensitive. It was never my intention to upset anyone. It does not reflect my values nor Burberry’s and we have removed it from the collection,”

The sweatshirt was then quickly removed off their spring collection. 

Prada (Monkey Figurines)

Finally, products from Prada’s Pradamalia line were pulled after pictures surfaced of merchandise depicting monkey-like figures with black faces and large red lips.

The figure has similarities to the extremely negative cartoons people used to draw blacks and which Gucci faced major scrutiny just recently as well. 

Prada also stated an apology and stated that “they are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface, Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery. In this interest, we will withdraw all of the characters in question from display and circulation.

For more information please read Adrianne Pasquarelli’s Article “primer for Burberry and others on how to make sure your marketing isn’t racist” on Advertising Age https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/make-marketing-culturally-sensitive/316658/