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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:
Thread gallery
10
CherryMaDeara · 10/01/2018 10:27

There is a massive difference between parents calling kids their little monkeys and some racist shitty kids calling people monkeys

Who has said they have an issue with parents calling their kids little monkeys? Confused

RTFT Big

Gilead · 10/01/2018 10:28

Gilead - maybe if we raise our children to be equals instead of seeing people differently and making such huge waves and divisions in how we treat people then there would be less racism?
Ahh, so it's my fault...

Bimbler · 10/01/2018 10:28

It’s a very convenient way of tidying things up in the mind - no issue, nothing to see here.

Isn't it just. Ignore what black posters on this thread, my chums have said it's a-okay.

downthestrada · 10/01/2018 10:29

maybe if we raise our children to be equals instead of seeing people differently and making such huge waves and divisions in how we treat people then there would be less racism?
There is a massive difference between parents calling kids their little monkeys and some racist shitty kids calling people monkeys

Right, but Difficult to do in practice since it’s crrently used as an insult. It’s not like we can treat black children the same by placing them in that top and sending them down the town. They’re likely to get bullied. Why would you want to do that?

It’s almost like we should stop the racism first, rather than blaming people for raising the issue.

CherryMaDeara · 10/01/2018 10:30

Downthestrada - who dismissed them? Oh I’m sorry, are we not allowed to give opinions because other people have opinions that mean more than mine

PoC have posted on this thread about being called a monkey, having bananas left on their desk, people doubt the monkey chant to them.

Do you have no sympathy with these people Big?

Gilead · 10/01/2018 10:31

Great way to solve racism, should have thought about this earlier
I know a better way: accept the majority opinion. Accept the opinion of those with experience. Don't victim blame.

downthestrada · 10/01/2018 10:32

BigBaboon you said everyone you had seen who had a problem with it was white and I couldn’t believe, especially after posting in this thread that you had missed all the black posters. That was all.

It’s not a one opinion thread, there’s a range of views here. You are allowed to post and we are both allowed to debate and disagree with each other’s posts (as we have both done).

PonderWoman · 10/01/2018 10:34

Bum, you want us all to:

raise our children to be equals instead of seeing people differently and making such huge waves and divisions in how we treat people then there would be less racism?

Is that before or after you tell us and your black best friend
it was actually black people that enslaved black people

Or are you saying all this because because white people have white people guilt

The disingenuous try very hard to re write history. Especially the ones with best black friends who then use usernames like this poster has.

BigBaboonBum · 10/01/2018 10:35

@CherryMaDeara maybe deal with these people instead of diving on somebody who isn’t racist because I don’t feel the same way about a commercial as you do.

This thread is social justice at its very finest. To fucking hell with anybody who doesn’t agree 100% with everything you say

Grow up

BigBaboonBum · 10/01/2018 10:37

PonderWoman omg now my screen name is racist... PLEASE tell me how you made this connection? I’d love to know. Because as far as I’m aware I use this screen name because when I got pregnant I puffed out everywhere and my son called it me. But go on, I’d love to know what lovely story you can pluck from this to fit your agenda

Gilead · 10/01/2018 10:39

BigBaboon
You're allowed to feel differently, but the whole of the rest of the world is calling out H&M and you're the one that's claiming we're out of step.

CherryMaDeara · 10/01/2018 10:40

😂

Would you consider this racist? H&M advert
Gilead · 10/01/2018 10:41

I too commented on your name. Fair enough, I looked and you've been using it a while, so I apologise. However, given we're discussing the connotations of 'Monkey', checking someone's name when it refers to another primate is surely understandable?

CherryMaDeara · 10/01/2018 10:42

CherryMaDeara maybe deal with these people instead of diving on somebody who isn’t racist because I don’t feel the same way about a commercial as you do.

Big But when you say the ad is fine, then you are defending those people.

If you don't get that, then it's you who needs to grow up.

Would you buy this hoodie for your child?

Buck3t · 10/01/2018 10:43

No @Faceoddity**

So.... ? To all of you saying cheeky monkey is not the problem here. It clearly is to @Buck3t.

I was being facetious. Just as I assumed you were by saying your mother should have her racism checked.

PonderWoman · 10/01/2018 10:44

This thread is social justice at its very finest. To fucking hell with anybody who doesn’t agree 100% with everything you say

Er no. If people are telling you about history, about their lives, your job is to listen, not tell them how they should feel and belittle their feelings. You yourself seem very upset about white people being held responsible for a crime against humanity that they committed.

Zarathrustra · 10/01/2018 10:52

The ‘white people’ who committed the Atlantic space trade are all dead.

You know, history.

BertrandRussell · 10/01/2018 10:54

@BertrandRussel they were quite vocal about the fact another ridiculous white-led “outrage” has occurred in the name of racism"

Yeah, course they were. And they think the monkey chants at football matches are a really cute sign of affection.......

Zarathrustra · 10/01/2018 10:54

‘The whole of the rest of the world is calling out H&M’

‘its your job to listen’

pmsl Grin

CherryMaDeara · 10/01/2018 10:57

Zara, the legacy of slavery remains.

You know, memories.

Like with the holocaust, you need to remember it so it doesn't happen again.

PonderWoman · 10/01/2018 10:59

Its ok if white woman tells black woman what to do, but if black woman dares tell white woman to listen, it is mocked and ridiculed.

Zarathrustra · 10/01/2018 11:01

You understand that the ‘white people’ who perpetrated the Atlantic slave trade (a minority, most were brutally oppressed due to their class) can’t be held to account for their crimes on account of being, you know, brown bread?

Unless you believe all white people, across time and space, are guilty for the crimes of a few.

I can think of a 20thC with strong ideas about collective guilt. And race.

Buck3t · 10/01/2018 11:02

@Faceoddity
On reflection I do see something wrong with cheeky monkey.

My sister used to call my kids cheeky monkeys or little monkeys. And I always felt uncomfortable with her doing that because my memories (being bored in the 70s) are totally different to hers (being born in the 80s). Maybe I see Cheeky Monkey as the gateway drug to Monkey in the jungle - who knows...

So if I were to think about this seriously I probably in my heart of hearts do find something unsettling in the term 'cheeky monkey' and like the bubble machine in the shape of a gun that I politely asked my son's nursery not to use, I wouldn't appreciate a white stranger calling my child that either. I know, I know, you have said many times that you only say it to your children, but you are not the only one that uses it and they don't reserve it for their children alone.

I'm not trying to rewrite your history at all, as I say I'm being facetious, because - this topic? really? We have white people who can see the connotation, white people who can see the connotation but don't see why the hoodie should be removed from sale. We have white people who don't see. We have white people who don't see it and thinks people who do are racist (thanks for that). We have black people who have experienced racism and get it, do we have black people who don't get it? Not sure i've seen that person.

We then have mixed race people who get it and those who don't and (clearly) live in a very different world to this black person. I honestly don't think you are equipping your children for the real world with your take on this subject. I think this because I have tried to raise my children like you and in the last five years have seen it backfire. This Lucy has plenty of explaining to do.

Education! Education! Education, is not just a New Labour slogan for educating the masses, It's a slogan for life.

This thread is depressing in so many ways. I'm the one that says I'm not like Black Americans I don't see race in everything the way they have to. I'm no race activist - for one I don't have the words. But wow the obtuse comments on this thread.

Zarathrustra · 10/01/2018 11:02

^20thC figure

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 10/01/2018 11:03

I might follow quencher around the threads calling her a cheeky monkey

I think she might explode