Outside Perception
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Coolest Monkey in the Jungle – Backlash at H&M is stupid!
Some facts for you….
- Kids Like Monkeys!
- I like Monkeys!
- You like Monkeys!
- People are Dumb!
This poor kid has to be singled out and treated differently because he was chosen to model a Sweatshirt that said “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle”? The people yelling about how it’s racist need to rethink their lives… Sheesh, KIDS LIKE MONKEYS and he is a kid!
Yelling about how it had to go through several levels of marketing and all those people didn’t see a problem with it… Yeah, they didn’t because they don’t think that way either… YOU DO!!!! So who has the problem? The kid didn’t, The Mom Didn’t, Various company employees didn’t… Here is the apology… Which by the way Is only on the Landing page for The United States, and Puerto Rico. What does that tell you? You can check for yourself, here is the Multinational Landing Page and the apology letter from the U.S. site. Oh and it’s a Swedish Company.
Now they pulled the shirt from the site, pulled the picture and apologized for the mistake on social media. What mistake? Making a Sweatshirt about being the coolest monkey in the jungle and then putting the wrong color kid in it? The Mother’s response to poor H&M’s backlash was great. Ready, she said “Get Over it”!
I really have to wonder what the hell is wrong with people. Yelling it’s racist, It’s a sweatshirt it’s not racist. There are enough racial issues that need to be dealt with. How about you focus your righteous fury on that instead of stupid shit. H&M’s decision to make the shirt and put a good looking kid in it wasn’t a mistake. Allowing our perceptions of the past to color our children’s futures by teaching them the wrong lessons, that’s the mistake. Let that Kid and any other kid who wants to be the “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle”, be one.
Spread the Word!!!
4 Comments on “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle – Backlash at H&M is stupid!”
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Outside Perception 
Hmm. I have to disagree. I’m black and I think that it was irresponsible to have a black boy model that particular hoodie. People aren’t making a furore out of nothing. In Europe, black people are referred to as monkeys and some sportspeople have bananas thrown at them and so on. The negative connotation is there. If people are offended, then they have the right to be the same as how people can choose not to be offended.
The mother’s stance was awkward. It’s not like people know her son, but it was rather what he represented. Her view does not matter to me. If that was my child, they wouldn’t be in that hoodie, period. I saw that H&M have done this a few times. Anything with a monkey reference is modelled by a black person. It’s unsettling.
The defence that H&M is a Swedish company is irrelevant. Like I said, Europe isn’t a racism free utopia, it’s quite prevalent in certain countries.
Luckily for me I don’t shop at H&M anyway.
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I can respect that Snark. Different perspectives are exactly that and I respect yours. I’d like your take on the Landing page weirdness if you wouldn’t mind.
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Landing page weirdness – simply put, there are more black people in the US than say, the UK (2% black population) and more people there who could potentially boycott the store.
Also, when it comes to racism and racial tension, there’s less focus on Europe in the media.
The US are light years ahead of us in terms of addressing systematic racism.
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I think to get rid of racism, which I presume everybody wants to see happen, we have to be vigilant and fight it when it rears its head. However, I’d agree that false alarms like this do not help.
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