Oh COME ON, Asda!

[ballinacup]

Asda launches wearable England flag

Asda execs can't see anything wrong with this. At all?

I still don't understand why they didn't just give it a regular, rounded raincoat/cagoule hood.

It looks like a wearable flag to me. Even if it looks to some like a KKK robe it isn't, so what is the problem? If we stopped using things because they look like something dodgy, no one would eat a Medlar.
Asda can't be responsible for the minds of it's customers. The 'Mental Patient' thing was a low point though!

Kind of wondering if people who don't think this looks a bit dodgy would wander around festooned with swastikas. The swastika isn't actually a bad symbol, it was hijacked by the Nazis, but unfortunately it's now pretty definitely in the public imagination as meaning something bad.

Same with yer white pointy hood. I saw it and thought "Shit that looks dodgy". Of course the Asda designers aren't secretly trying to recruit for the KKK, but a "flattering" poncho would have been a better bet.

devere I thought that it probably had to do with cheapness and the speed of making it, but even so, you would have thought that after the first one was made somebody would have turned around and noticed it. It's a bloody obvious connection. Muppets!

What about the term Aryan too? If you were of Persian descent would you use that term? Because, technically, that's what an Aryan is, not what the term got adopted for from the 1850s and through WWII and is now associated with.

I think it's just part in living in a world that is has history so freely accessible. We learn about specific things and then start associating things with that. So a pointed white hood for the KKK is a good example. Some find it acceptable and don't see the connection, others spot it immediately. It'd be interesting to know why we associate it differently though.

Wasn't it Tesco with the mental patient costume?

Yes, it looks very KKK.

That said, I'm getting very pissed off at all this vitriol over the St Georges Flag. I'm an ethnic minority and we have a selection of them for the World Cup etc, sit draped in them, my dad has those tacky mirror ones for the car. It's not racist, because we're English and proud of our national flag. If you think it's been claimed by the EDL etc, just reclaim it.

I can see why you are a shockinglybad teacher, leaping to such ridiculous conclusions.
I think you are being OTT, so I'm a swastika festooned nazi. Ok then...

I don't see that shockinglybadteacher called anyone a nazi. at all. Maybe read her post again and ask somebody to explain if you don't understand.

Maybe read it yourself and grasp the concept of reflected irony and crossed out insults are neither big nor clever

It looks like a piece of merchandised shit that tonnes of people will buy before England go out of the World Cup and discard soon thereafter. Pretty much like every WC or any other event. Read; Halloween, Easter, St Patrick's Day, Valentines Day etc etc.

I can't stand it, not because it looks racist/KKK/EDL but because it reminds me of how irritatingly persistent retailers are for us to try and get on board and spunk cash on pointless tat.

I thought kkk when i saw it, as did dh when i held it up to show him. Not that asda should take it off the shelves for that, but hey, its what i thought.

Maybe their trying to appeal to the ukip market?

Why the hell does anyone need a wearable flag anyway? What kind of idiot struggles to tie a flag around their shoulders?

I agree with posters saying it should have a rounded hood. I have no problem with wearable flag waterproofs but whatever their origins, some things can now not be disassociated with how they have been used.

White, pointy hoods being one of those things.

FRom the look of it, they made it in the cheapest possible way, which is a pointed hood rather than rounded, which is more difficult to make.

Have any of youactually looked at a proper kkk outfit? Because this is really nothing like it in fact. It's completely out of context as well.

It's ugly, tacky and cheap looking. But the asda so racist shreiking is just stupid.

I don't think anyone's saying Asda is racist. Just incredibly misguided again.

I would rather lick dog shit off my shoe than shop in Asda.

There is a big difference between saying that they are racist and that they were stupid to approve this product. I am thinking the latter and I assume most others are too!

I don't think they are racists, just a bit careless and stupid.

Why would one wish to wear a flag with a hood? By all means drape a flag around your shoulders to display pride for your country at a sporting event (akin to wearing a scarf in your team colours).And we can and should fly flags to take pride in our country, as do other countries, but from buildings, flown alongside other flags. We should take pride in who we are, but sometimes, IMO, the England flag is displayed confrontationally.

From that picture, it does look a bit KKK-ish

I also don't particularly like the England flag being constantly displayed/flown on vans/trucks. It does seem to be a little unnecessarily confrontational. I imagine this item of "clothing" will be very popular with football fans, not necessarily with the rugby/cricket/cycling et al fans. Not sure, but let's see how it pans out.

(PS - That does sound very judgemental, and I apologise if it does - just speaking from experience).

I live in a turisty place and people buy flagged rain ponxhos all the time for the grand price a couple of quid. All of these cheapest of cheap contraptions have a rounded hood. Asda are making a false economy here, and, in any case, a very small one..

Confrontational flag to go with the aggressive bunting?

exactly self.

too many getting their knickers in a twist over nothing on here

So, we can't use the flag of St George cos being English is racist.

We can't have pointy hoods, cos that is evil.

Put the 2 together and we can't be ASDA cos they are... oh, hang on?!?

Pass me the aggressive bunting, Self. I feel the need to outrage someone

I think it looks a touch KKK, I wouldn't assume the wearer was a KKK fan but I probably would judge them for the fact that they would spend money on a wearable flag.

Also I am British, love England, come from forces background etcetera but I do think that the St George's cross has been totally stolen by EDL and other drunk, violent people and it really pisses me off. And I prefer the patriotism where we all talk about how rubbish we are, even though we know we're not, rather than this whole kind of cheap glorying thing. Although I do totally understand that the World Cup is different, and will be a brief moment of pointless hope as we really are not brilliant at football.

LOL, grocklebox. I am a shockingly bad teacher (or was, rather), but it was nothing to do with me calling anyone swastika wearing nazis. Read for comprehension, and you'll see I was actually saying something completely different.

If you're determined to be insulted, though....

no, it's fine. pointy white hoods and England football hooligans fans have never been associated with racism.