The big label brand H&M has temporarily closed several stores in South Africa this past Saturday after several protests erupted over an image in its online store that many critics and celebrities said was racist.
The ad was an image of an African American child wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a printed slogan on it that said, “coolest monkey in the jungle.” There were two other sweatshirts that were jungle themed but modeled by white children.
[IMPORTANT NOTICE]: All the stores of that racist retailer @hmsouthafrica are CLOSED. Racism must fall and we will never tip toe around racists. pic.twitter.com/eqmw885k6X
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) January 13, 2018
Saturday protesters were representatives of the second-largest opposition party, Economic Freedom Fighters, outside H&M locations all over South Africa.
Videos that turned up over the protests showed people either marching outside or through the store. There were other videos that showed people knocking mannequins over, overturning racks and scattering clothes.
EFF supporters at H&M WATCH the trashing… pic.twitter.com/Kw0xUaG4Cb
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 13, 2018
“Out of concern for the safety of our employees and customers we have temporarily closed all stores in the area,” H&M said in an emailed statement on Saturday.
“None of our staff or customers have been injured. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will open the stores as soon as the situation is safe again. We strongly believe that racism and bias in any shape or form, deliberate or accidental, are simply unacceptable. We stress that our wonderful store staff had nothing to do with our poorly judged product and image.”
Julius Malema, the leader of the party, said in a speech on Saturday, “we make no apology about what the fighters did today against that store called H&M,” and said that targeting the stores was “just the beginning.”
“Every shop that undermines black people must be attended to,” he added. “It must be shut down. It must be closed.”
Malema believed that, despite the apology from H&M and the fact that they are no longer selling the shirt, the matter needs to be taken seriously.
“We cannot allow the humiliation of black people to continue,” he said. “No one should make jokes about the dignity of black people.”
