Black Panther was a huge hit in the box office this year. The movie had a big cultural impact and some of the characters were even in the new Avengers movie. Considering the film's success, it only makes sense that brands have capitalized on the popularity and are making their own merchandise around the film. Forever 21 is no exception to this rule as today they unveiled their "Wakanda Forever" Christmas Sweater. It was a cute idea but there was one problem. They used a white blonde model to show off the piece.
Obviously there is nothing wrong with a white person sporting the sweater, but considering what the comic book and the movie are all about, it seems out of touch to not have a black model on the website. Even people on Twitter agree that Forever 21's use of a white model was a huge faux-pas.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1075095687937744896
https://twitter.com/_/status/1075097027774697472
Forever 21 hasn't removed the images from their website so they clearly don't mind the controversy too much. We'll see if they take it down in the future if the heat becomes too much to handle.
