H&M experiencing racist Déjà vu

Racism Score: 4.9

H&M is at it again. In 2018, the Swedish apparel company came under fire for its ‘coolest monkey’ sweatshirt. As dictionary.com points out, parents often refer to their own children as monkey’s. However, monkey is considered offensive when the term is used to describe a person of color due to the dehumanizing nature of the term during slave times.

It does not appear H&M learned their lesson from the public backlash and their internal problems may be deeper rooted than realized.

CNN reported that one of H&Ms brands, & Other Stories, labeled a beanie with the n-word. The racial slur was internal only and it was never posted to any public-facing materials. However, the image was uploaded to a product overview system for employees to view.

How does that happen? Where are the checks and balances?

As always, H&M delivered an apology.

“We are deeply sorry to have discovered that one of our brands, & Other Stories, used a racist slur in an internal product overview. This is totally unacceptable and should never have happened. It is a serious breach of our policies and goes against everything we stand for. We take the use of racially offensive language extremely seriously. While internal and external investigations are taking place, we have suspended the team and managers responsible for this area of the business.”

H&M is making diversity a top priority to improve their teams with specific commitments. You can view the entire apology and commitment list here.

While it is hard to fathom how this type of gaffe can occur in 2020, it is not as bad as Maine’s n-word islands.