Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably heard about the hot water H&M now finds itself in after an Ill-advised advertising campaign, that depicted a young black boy in a hoodie that read “coolest monkey in the jungle”. Well, it looks like the protests against the brand have gone further than tweeting and social media sharing as H&M has temporarily closed all of its store in South Africa on Saturday, January 13, after protestors trashed several store locations.
Social media reports began flooding in on Saturday depicting protestor actions both inside and outside the stores. Shortly after the incidents, H&M announced in an email statement that “out of concern for the safety of our employees and customers we have temporarily closed all stores in the area.” H&M is further quoted saying “None of our staff or customers have been injured,” the statement detailed. “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.”
Take a look at some videos and photos of the South Africa protests below and let us know what you think in the comments…
That @hm nonsense of a clothing store is now facing consequences for its racism. All rational people should agree that the store should not be allowed to continue operating in South Africa. Well done to Fighters who physically confronted racism. pic.twitter.com/cgdedYGoOj
— Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) January 13, 2018
EFF supporters at H&M WATCH the trashing… pic.twitter.com/Kw0xUaG4Cb
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 13, 2018
Source: New York Times