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In January 2018 H & M posted on it\'s e-commerce website a young black boy weari

ID: 427474 • Letter: I

Question

In January 2018 H & M posted on it's e-commerce website a young black boy wearing a hoodie sweat shirt that on the front said

"Coolest Monkey in the Jungle".

Monkeys are very cute and you might even call your son or daughter, niece or nephew a little monkey.

However, I am not sure why the company using a young black boy to model their hoodie, did not use

Coolest KID in the Jungle or

Coolest KID on the Block or

Coolest KID in School or Lion

Coolest LION in the Jungle

Coolest LION in School.

Lions are cute too, right?? Remember Nahla and Simba from the Lion King? The Lion King made lions very popular.

Why didn't they have a young WHITE boy model the hoodie with the "Coolest Monkey in the Jungle"?

The young WHITE boy model wore a hoodie that said "Survival Expert".

Imagine you are a marketing consultant. What would you tell the executive to do?  

What are the alternatives? What are your recommendations? Why do you recommend this course of action?

Indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements.

Explanation / Answer

Answer: This case indicates a racial discrimination/ prejudice on behalf of the company. The above stated incidence and subsequently presented arguments indicates that the company has intentionally or unintentionally taken a step which can create a public uproar blaming the company for the racial prejudice. This situation should have been avoided but as it has already taken place, there are several course of action which H&M may take like apologizing for this act, remove the advertisement, make a white kid wear the same T shirt and appear on the website, make the black kid wear some other T shirt and appear on the website and so on. But I recommend that the company should again feature the black kid on its e commerce website with a hoodie T shirt with a line like “Coolest Lion in the Jungle” or the “Coolest Kid in the Jungle”. This will act as a balancing act and will help the company to contend that it did not had any negative intentions while they showed the black kid in “ Coolest monkey in the Jungle T shirt”. They can say that they have also showed the same boy in other T Shirts having other punch lines and the punch line on it was just a co incidence. This will help the company to present an ethically logical argument. The company in the future should avoid such incidences and should think well and analyse the promotional material for words and meanings which may have a racial meaning while using Afro Americans or the other minorities groups. The marketing managers/executives should take care and avoid racially coloured remarks while preparing their promotional activities.   

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