H&M Monkey Hoodie

A few weeks ago H&M released a green hoodie with the words,” COOLEST MONKEY IN THE JUNGLE,” which sparked up some talk about H&M being racist because the model for the hoodie was an African American child.

What really got the ball going was when The Weeknd made a post on twitter saying, “Woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. I’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore.”

Since then, many people across the country are taking side with the notion that the company is exhibiting racist messages. A happened at a store in South Africa where clothes were strewn all over, mannequins were torn apart and customers were forced to flee due to the violent group of people enter the store. Police were forced to fire rubber bullets at the protesters.

Since the act of violence, H&M thought it would be best to close all their stores in South Africa for the safety of their staff and shoppers, leaving thousands unemployed.

H&M publicly apologized on January 8th saying, “This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologize to anyone this may have offended.”

The parents of the young boy who modeled for the hoodie were interviewed by Independent.co. The mother was asked if she had seen the hoodie before the shoot and if she would have made the same connection or let her son model for H&M.

“Not for me, I wouldn’t have seen such a connection to anything other than my son modelling a shirt,” she said. She was also asked if the reaction of others was an overreaction.

“It’s not an overreaction when it comes to racism, people all react differently due to their own opinions.”

The fight still continues about whether the company is racist. People on the company’s side are flipping it back and saying the ones who pointed it out and making the connection that the young boy and the word monkey go together are the actual racist ones.

If the violent acts continue against the company then they will be forced to shut down. People all over will be impacted by this decision. People who love to shop there will no longer have their favorite clothing brand.

But the bigger issue would be that thousands of people, who had nothing to do with this issue, will be jobless.