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Original poster

Would you consider this racist? H&M advert

999 replies

BornInSydneyy · 08/01/2018 21:12

A young black boy wearing a jumper that says -

“Coolest monkey in the jungle”

I genuinely can’t understand how anyone thought that was acceptable.

OP posts:
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10
Slanetylor · 08/01/2018 23:50

id love to see the reaction if they had a traveller wearing a t- shirt saying " cute little tinker"!!

Phalenopsisgirl · 08/01/2018 23:50

Yeah and letting them know this has a lasting effect does what?

Bimbler · 08/01/2018 23:51

And when will we let monkey just be an animal?

Ask the racists who shout it as a term of abuse at black football players.

Let me know your findings.

CherryMaDeara · 08/01/2018 23:51

Black people have been portrayed as ape like or like monkeys for at least hundreds of years.

Charles Darwin maintained the fallacy that black people are closer to apes than white people.

Tarzan was white and the black people were written by Burroughs as ape like.

With all this context and history, it is unacceptable to put the 'coolest monkey in the jungle' in a t-shirt. Don't blame black people or 'liberals' for this.

Blame all the people over the course of history who have portrayed black people as apes/monkeys.

Woodfordhound · 08/01/2018 23:52

Nobody has said the word monkey is racist. But as monkeys/jungles have been repeatedly and systematically used as racist insults towards, in particular, black men and boys, then putting out an advert with a young black boy wearing a hoody stating he’s the coolest monkey in the jungle was catastrophically ill judged. Esp when he’s stood next to a white boy wearing the explorer (possibly read hunter/predator) version.

IMightMentionGriddlebone · 08/01/2018 23:52

Phalenopsisgirl

Black people, including children, are still being called 'monkey' as an insult today, though?

I can't see how it can lose its racist associations until the racists have stopped using it as a racist insult.

FaceOddity · 08/01/2018 23:52

@Phalenopsisgirl racism would be in the word monkey if someone used it derivatively against a black person. But I don't think this was the case on H&Ms part. Maybe just an error in judgment considering the current politically climate and the fact we haven't truly moved away from 'our' colonial past.

This reminds me of the time I think benedict cumberbatch used the term 'coloured' and there was uproar. He didn't use it as a slur and people got offended. He was congratulating another actor for something. But his point went out of the window because people couldn't get past the wording he used.

Glintysea · 08/01/2018 23:52

cherry exactly

FaceOddity · 08/01/2018 23:53

Argh meant as a derogative*

StripySocksAndDocs · 08/01/2018 23:54

It's only when we stop making the associations we hopefully allow racism to die a death.

Very idealistic. Unfortunately it's the other way round; only when racism dies a death (utopian world) will the term 'monkey' stop having racist associations. (Then you still have historical association.)

Being aware of it isn't the racist act. Using it to insult is. Can still be an affectionate term too.

You need a bucketfull of ignorance not to realise there's times when no matter how unintended it is, some things offend, insult and can cause harm.

quencher · 08/01/2018 23:54

Ignorance can be annoying to read on Mn.

Why are people connecting the slogan with cheeky monkey?

If anyone thinks that ad was misjudged, mistake or whatever excuse people want to give it the they are wrong.

I don't have the energy to write why.

Would you consider this racist? H&M advert
Would you consider this racist? H&M advert
whosaidso · 08/01/2018 23:55

My singular, lonely brain cell cannot cope with this thread. Over and out @Bimbler

quencher · 08/01/2018 23:55

This thread proves the point and makes it worse.

Failingat40 · 08/01/2018 23:55

I don't think it's racist at all but I can see how it could be offensive to those who think monkey = black person (not my thoughts)

There was a white Kid also wearing the same jumper.

My son used to wear cheeky monkey clothing all the time.

TheFairyCaravan · 08/01/2018 23:56

When I saw it this morning I thought someone had photoshopped the ad. I couldn’t believe H&M could have been so stupid.

It is racist. My nephews and great nephews have been called monkeys, they range in age from 20-5. I can imagine my sister flipped her lid when she saw it.

clumsyduck · 08/01/2018 23:57

phalenopsis I see where you are trying to come from . The little boy should be free to wear what he wants same as a white boy could . It's understandable you would think that and hope for that . But it's idealistic . The fact is the wording used has been used and is still used in a derogatory way and that's why it's unacceptable there really isn't any arguing with that .

quencher · 08/01/2018 23:58

The wording is not cheeky monkey. read the slogan. Hmm

80sQueen · 08/01/2018 23:58

Cherrymadeara

Copying and pasting for the ones at the back

*Black people have been portrayed as ape like or like monkeys for at least hundreds of years.

Charles Darwin maintained the fallacy that black people are closer to apes than white people.

Tarzan was white and the black people were written by Burroughs as ape like.*

IMightMentionGriddlebone · 08/01/2018 23:59

When no-one in living memory has been called a monkey as a deliberate racist insult, then it may be okay to call children monkeys indiscriminately.

We have not reached this point, so if any white person doesn't want to risk sounding like a racist, we have to avoid calling black children monkeys. We especially have to avoid doing it in expensive advertising, because it looks premeditated then.

Honestly, it's not that onerous.

quencher · 09/01/2018 00:01

Anyone with a brain should look at the stereotypes between the two slogans and it does say a lot about what the marketing team wanted to get across.
Of course most people won't see it. No racism here. We will all move along.

FaceOddity · 09/01/2018 00:01

Maybe it is idealistic to dream of a world where no one gives a shiny shit who wears what. I long for the day.

WhatIWant · 09/01/2018 00:01

Ugh, when I saw this on the news my heart dropped as it reminded me of something I was trying to forget...
I once asked a random Mum at a playgroup which kid was her little monkey. The mum was white but once she had pointed out her son t was obvious the kid had a black Dad. For some reason I didn't even register what I had said until later in the day so I couldn't apologise. 😔

I used to call my own four kids little monkeys probably because they loved the 10 little monkeys sleeping in a bed book that they had. Anyway I stopped as soon as I realised my mistake.

WhatIWant · 09/01/2018 00:03

BTW I used the term little monkeys about 25 years ago not that it makes it any better 😔

Phalenopsisgirl · 09/01/2018 00:03

Faceoddity, I do know there are still idiots who would shout monkey as a slur, I just agree with you that we just give them power by allowing them to hijak that word and give it their own definition, the. We accept that definition? No. I’d prefer not to allow that to happen. Yes some will still shout it and we are not evolved past it but talking about this shirt as though it is them winning is just adding to their power. Wear the shirt, reclaim the word, stamp on the negativity.

FaceOddity · 09/01/2018 00:04

@WhatIWant oh god I wouldn't call anyone else's kids monkey, only my own. Did the mum say anything?