H&M was under fire last year after featuring an image of a young African American boy wearing a sweatshirt that read ‘Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.’ After issuing an apology and even bringing a diversity officer on board in response to the backlash that ensued then, one would think the fashion retailer would exercise a bit more wisdom, caution, and cultural sensitivity when launching campaigns featuring people of color.
We thought wrong.
Currently embroiled in yet another controversy, this time for featuring an ad with a young African American girl with a hairstyle critics are deeming as inappropriate as it is “messy” and “unkempt” (compared to the other children in the same ad campaign), last week saw H&M slammed on social media by commenters who believed the representation was intentional. The retail giant only made matters worse when it took to Twitter to defend the image (seen above).
More inside:
The Friday response set in motion a wave of criticism, including calls to boycott. As of time reported, the company’s corporate officials have yet to respond to the hoop-la.
[photo source: H&M’s official web site]
Your thoughts?
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Sigh. H&M stays in some mess…
The stylist should be fired. The white kids’ hair was styled “messy”. This little black girl’s hair was purposefully pulled back instead of moisturized with a “messy” afro. I blame the stylist and the girl’s parents for allowing their child to be photographed like that. This is not that big a deal though. Who still shops at H&M anyway?
This is that babies hair in it’s natural 4C state. I pray that she doesn’t feel the backlash because it’ll do a number on her self-esteem. “Messy hair after school” pics are currently trending and H&M wanted in on it. I advise all twitter fingers to get the complete story before getting in an uproar.
Natural C hair is an afro. Her parents should have insisted on a “messy” afro so that her hair is styled “messy” like the other kids. What is the purpose of styling it pulled back like that? I have learned that you cannot appease twitter people because they would rather just whine about nonsense than actually doing something like stop shopping at h&m. H&m is a pr
Its not H&M Its PEOPLE oF COLOR!
They cant make up their mind and unsatisfied with LIFE!
Like you
Real talk!!!!! “Embrace your natural hair , take your weave/wig off and love yourself” is what black men and women Always say, but the second non styled 4c hair is exposed, all of a sudden it needs to be gelled, baby hair glued down or it’s messy and needs to be covered?! Like wtf make y’all minds up fr fr!!!!!
??? what’s the problem?!!
There is absolutely no problem.
The girl looks natural, what’s wrong with that ?
If she had been wearing a weave, people would be shooting them because they won’t show her natural afro hair.
We live in a world where it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Some people are thirsty and hungry for war and conflict, they have a nasty mind.
There’s no case here, move along.
There’s nothing wrong with natural hair, but this beautiful young girl’s hair is UNKEMPT by anyone’s standards, especially black folks’. These white clothing companies are forever trying to embarrass black people and it will not be tolerated.
This is your own interpretation. And people always tend to go for negative thoughts. We don’t need that in today’s world. There is no case here for real.
The problem is I am sure people on the photo shoot knew this child hair was tussled & they could have offered to brush her hair and put some product on it to make sure she looked put together. They disregarded this young child & her appearance because they didn’t care.
People still wear H&M in 2019? *shudders*
Have y’all even seen the other child models? ALL of the kids had “messy” hair! If y’all are only offended by the black girl then that’s on YOU!
Her hair is natural and perfectly fine. Stop the self hate!
The self hate is REAL. Guess what, that is the way her hair grows out of her scalp and I love that she, and obviously her parents, have no shame in her BEAUTY in its natural state. They took her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail and that’s what it looks like. Get over it. It’s ridiculous that people think this should be embarrassing and that HER NATURAL HAIR is somehow offensive. My people have a long way to go smh.
Pictures of other kids would have been nice. Cause I dont see a problem with this girls hair. What should her hair have looked like? Would it have been better if she wore a wig?
Whatever you do, people always complain. Girl with natural hair “uh, thats messy. Racist company.” Girl with straight hair “uh, they try to whitewash her. Racist company”
Am I missing something? What’s wrong with the picture?
Absolutely nothing ??
That’s what I’m thinking. I saw 10 of this little girl waiting for the bus this morning and at no time did I have to do a double take because they looked unsightly, unkempt or unnatural. People need to get off the internet and get into the real world, trust, there is some real ish going on that needs this level of attention.
ATTN TGJ!!! Can we get a post about cupcakke saying Camilla Cabello is racist and she’s retiring?!! ? this is MAJOR NEWS!
I swear now adays your danm if you do and your dam if you dont!
Like people get over your OWN PERSONAL ISSUES!
It’s meant to be messy but they probably should have gone for a messy Afro cause compared to the other kids theirs looked Styled messy …. then again it’s just looks like normal 4c hair after a kid spent all day playing around.
That boy was not African American. He is a Black Brit. His Parents are from East Africa. Thats lazy and really foul to use African Americans for clickbait. H&M does their castings in Europe! These are black/African people from EUROPE.
The girl is not African American either! She is from Europe. Stop this
Trust me, no African American model nor their parents would allow any casting call to get out of hand.
Society makes us black people not proud of our natural hair texture, I bet if she had in some straight hair that was just did it would be all good. in my experience, I know when there is a need for an uproar and in my opinion, at this moment I don’t see a need for it. remind me of when Beyonce let he child go natural no style or anything, and how our own black people were attacking her for it, sad really how we don’t love our natural hair because we where told it’s nappy and it not pretty.
I disagree with that. Black people have many different natural textures. My husband is black and his hair does not look like that at all naturally and neither does anyone in his family. The unique thing about black people is that they encompass so many different complexions and hair types. I agree that this is not that big a deal except to twitter whiners. I am not sure why this is even newsworthy.
You’re not newsworthy
Keep thirsting for me daily troll. You are my number 2 fan on here. Always desperate to read my comments and u are so dumb u always let me know u read my comments when u troll. U need to go on a diet chubs. U have been guzzling too much of MY grape juice. Was that you who tried order 10 cases of Jasmine Monet champagne with the cash portion of your EBT card yesterday? Sorry dear, we only accept major credit cards and your balance is too low to afford it. You do know that wine and champagne has sugar in it right? You should drink water instead to slim down your huge gut.
Jasmine Monet champagne is cheap and is therefore barely champagne, dear. Here you go again with your fake life ? You are a demon troll.
Its not cheap and two Jasmine Monet has a new wine collection coming out 2020. Ever since i invested in the company and i have been taking the brand to new levels. You are jealous. You dont have anything going on.
What did you invest into the company besides n** guzzling?
I bought an ownership share. Do you know what that means fan? You are going to have to pay money for speaking to me so frequently. Im not a diva with many words. Im a diva all about the money! I think you owe me $289,000 USD. Pay up or shut up!
Black people are always trippin about each other’s damn hair. And it ain’t nothing but learned self-hate from old racist attitudes. These same folks was draggin the hell out of Gabby Douglas after she won the gold medal all-around gymnastics competition at the Olympics cause her hair wasn’t layed for the gods. It’s ridiculous! If you that pressed about this little girl’s edges then I suggest that the problem lies with you! Black hair is beautiful and it doesn’t have to be tied, dyed and deep-fried to be “acceptable.”