H&M mother has said for people to 'get over it'

[WomanEmpire]

Apparently she has said on Facebook it's people 'crying wolf' and to 'get over it'

Wdyt?

I personally think H&M are counting their lucky stars and have sort of preyed on her, (this is very presumptuous, so I am prepared to be shot down) knowing that perhaps as someone who is native Nigerian and moved to Sweden (I think relatively recently, but again pull me up on this if I'm incorrect) might not be quite as aware of the racism that incurs in the US/UK, as those who live in these countries and wouldn't think to second guess in a shoot, because you'd trust such a popular retailer to not have racist slurs put on a jumper and modelled by a child, who could quite possibly still be called this by those idiots. Because I still can't believe that NO ONE along the process picked up on this.

I'm not saying racism doesn't occur in other countries but I have experience of those two countries.

H and m are always at it. Sexist slogans on little girls clothes too. I do wonder if it could be a language thing though. Maybe the people who approve these things don't have good enough English to know the meaning / context properly - as the shop is not English?

the word 'bitch' just actually means female dog. Its the fact it has consistently been used as an insult against women that makes it offensive. And you know that because it is used against white people. The reason you dont know about monkey is because it is not used against white people not because its 'innocent'... it would be innocent if someone said it to you but as other people in this thread have detailed some black people have had horrific abuse thrown at them centred around the word. They have a right to be bloody offended. I know i would be not only because of the picture that is one thing, a very stupid mistake which they have rightly apologised for, but because of peoples absolute ignorance and failure to accept that people do even still today face abuse about their skin colour.

So you think black people who are offended by this are being overly sensitive and just a bit silly really?

No, I have no views on how black people who are offended should feel.

I was addressing the white phenomenon of taking offence "on behalf of ."
In this case, on behalf of a black woman whose opinion is of most interest to me as its her chlid modelling the item, + she has said quite clearly she is NOT offended. .

I agree with her. Calling something like this racist lessens the power of the word when it is appropriate to use it.

tiptop how do you know my skin colour?

Of course her opinion is of most interest to you, because it chimes with your own.

But the many more black people who were offended? You couldn't care less.

She might possibly be worried about his ability to get future modelling work?

But the issue isn't really whether she is offended, is it? It's whether other BME people might be. And H&M are a bit tone deaf not to have appreciated the historical use of the word "monkey" in racial politics. And it's not even historical really; you only have to go to the football terraces of Europe (less so in the UK these days) to see black footballers having bananas thrown at them or hearing monkey chants.

Calling something like this racist lessens the power of the word when it is appropriate to use it

But surely the feelings of the many, many black people who have endured shit like this all their lives have to be considered?

No it really isn't that difficult to grasp Anymajor. So much so that you would think there was almost something wilful about the way some people are refusing to understand.

Let's face it, unless you are illiterate and have spent the last 500 years under a rock, you can't fail to have noticed that "monkey" is an insult regularly levelled at black people by white ones. And not because they're cute and cheeky.

Maybe the term 'monkey' doesn't have the same connotations as here in the UK? That being said, H&M are marketing to an international and should have known better.

Some of the posters on this thread give serious cause for concern. I hope that these are trolls. People cannot seriously be so ignorant or can they?

MsHarry i dont, that second post was not directed at you in particular just at white people who are saying they dont see a problem. Im sure theres many non white people who wont see a problem and have luckily never been called a monkey or heard it used..... but there are also many who have and I think they are justified in being upset about this. H&M have teams of people creating these adverts and it just boggles the mind that it didnt occur to them to just swap the tops round or something. Thats all it would have taken and then it would have saved people who have experienced this abuse having to see that.

OMG this thread is going exactly the same way as the last one....

op, given you seem to be supporting the people who have said they are PoC and also offended by the AD, I don't think this it was a good move.

Its become just another vehicle for people who don't want to acknowledge racism exists to tell PoC their experiences don't matter.

But avoiding the innocent use of the word is feeding the racists. If I go to call a child a cheeky monkey, are you saying I need to check myself first?

I don't believe for a minute that there was any racist intent behind the photo. H&M gain nothing by it. However, lack of intent does not mean that the image is not racist. If a black person is made to feel uncomfortable by the connotations, that makes it racist, in the same way a topless calendar is not acceptable in the workplace on sexism grounds.

*Of course her opinion is of most interest to you, because it chimes with your own.

But the many more black people who were offended? You couldn't care less*

It's more significant to me, than a random white persons desperate attempt to be offended on her behalf, in spite of her making her opinion clear.Tere's adifference, if you take the time to think about it.

I have already said that I make no comment on how black people in general will feel about this. I'm not black so dont pretend to know exactly how an entire racial group feel (or should feel) one way or the other.

There is a certain irony in your posts , but I'm sure that will pass you by.

Hi i can't stand that people are saying she was put under pressure, what crap. Don't be so bloody patronising, just because she has views you don't agree with!
Yeah I agree with this.

I can see why it was seen as racist. I still think it was extremely insensitive. But I don't think that just because the mother of the child disagreed..people should be leaping to she was pressured or is deliberately trying to play it down. Maybe she just does not find it offensive herself.

So, a Swedish company produces a load of clothing for the international market, including clothing with English slogans. They do a fashion shoot of said clothing on various children in SWEDEN, pick the photographs, set up and beta-test new webpages on the website, in various languages, and finally make the pages live.

Then lots of people in the UK and US are horrified by the English pages because of the cultural resonances of that top on that child, in the UK and US.

But apparently the negative feedback from people in the UK and US doesn't matter, and H&M should not apologise or review their procedures, because a black woman in SWEDEN (who has a financial interest in publically supporting H&M) thinks it's all okay.

Have I got that right?

I don't think you should get a job in PR for a multi-national, then.

If some people are offended by this that is their right, it isn’t up to the mother or anyone else to speak on their behalf. I feel sorry for the little boy. I hope he doesn’t know what’s going on. I bet he was super excited to model the sweatshirt xxx

*There's a difference

Because I’m white and I can see the photo was inappropriate and because you’re white and determined not to see anything offensive about it?

Ok.

I'm white, my kids are mixed race. I'm not sure about it, I mean I'm not sure it is racist but I definitely think it is inappropriate. I'm surprised no one thought about it.

MsHarry thats like saying mentioning slavery is feeding racists.... its not okay to pretend these things didnt happen or dont happen!! It doesnt actually help at all. Because racism is still very much alive and well this just amounts to turning a blind eye. And all that does is rob people of the language to communicate their experiences.
Im white so all I have to compare it to is the experience of being a woman and all the little ways you are demeaned etc and you always hear all this crap about how you shouldnt talk too much about sexual harrassment because it adds to the view that women are weak victims... but does not talking about it stop sexual harrassment?? well it stops people who arent recieving it having to think about and thats all.

And i think this is pretty similar. Pretending that 'monkey' is innocent doesnt actually make it innocent it just silences the voices of people who are trying to communicate abuse they have faced.

But avoiding the innocent use of the word is feeding the racists. If I go to call a child a cheeky monkey, are you saying I need to check myself first? I don't think it is just the use of cheeky monkey, lots of us say cheeky monkey but we don't usually link it with jungle. I think the two together make it more offensive. Might not work like that for everyone.

My kids used to model
I pulled them out of it because I couldn't be arsed with the nastiness of it all.
When I saw that black boy in that awful advert I thought that his parents were probably thinking more of the exposure, work and money than the racism.
The woman is a fool and if she was standing in front of me I would tell her to her face.