H&M has received some serious flack for a photo that appears on their U.K. e-commerce website. The image shows a young black child wearing a sweater that reads "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle," effectively resulting in a barrage of criticism after having gone viral over the weekend. Many have called out the image's inherent racism, and its particularly tone-deaf message, and have resorted to Twitter to express their concerns. The fast-fashion chain has since been questioned as to how and why this image was posted onto its servers without any regard for how it would be publicly received.
https://twitter.com/_/status/950344444267593728
Twitter users have been very boisterous in denouncing H&M and its apparent lack of judgement, as they've been taking to the social media platform in droves to express their extreme disapproval.
https://twitter.com/_/status/950208202154610689
https://twitter.com/_/status/950388565455835136
https://twitter.com/_/status/950376591166771201
https://twitter.com/_/status/950210044775337984
According to CNN, the image has since been removed from the website, and a spokesperson from the company offered an apology on the company's behalf, noting how "this image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologize to anyone this may have offended." They go on to add that "we believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do and will be reviewing all our internal policies accordingly to avoid any future issues."
