In the screenshot above showing a product from Swedish Brand ‘H&M,’ there is a picture of a black boy wearing a hoodie that states “Coolest monkey in the Jungle” To me, this advertisement didn’t seem too “thought-provoking” at first, in fact, I thought it was quite a cute hoodie. But with some deeper reading about the reactions to this advertisement released by H&M was when I realised the possible issues caused by this.
As you can see on the left, in the one articles of many, there was a bit of controversy regarding the company’s intentions. To me, the biggest surprise that arises from this is that people would assume that H&M has performed this action deliberately.
If I’m being honest, whether it is because I go to an international school or whether it’s just me, I have to say that I didn’t even consider the child’s skin colour. I recognised it, of course, but to take that as one of the biggest parts of the picture didn’t really occur to me. The main attraction in my eyes was the hoodie.
I realised that different people may see this in different ways. I will try to tread carefully here… As a current minority in some places, black people may take offence to this image and instantly try and find what’s wrong with it.
Overall this advert/image made me realise that many people can see different sides of things and that when trying to do anything that represents a group of people it is crucial to recognise a majority if not all of the outcomes that may arise from it.
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