When marketing isn’t inclusive: H&M Case Study
What can we learn from the ‘coolest’ monkey jumper?
In 2018, H&M were accused of racism and were condemned by thousands of people worldwide, both on and off social media. With H&M claiming to value diversity and inclusion, how did their marketing fail to capture these stated values?
Let’s look at what happens without inclusive marketing…
About H&M
Chances are, you’ve heard of H&M. H&M is a Swedish retailer with 51 online shopping markets and 5,000 stories in 74 markets worldwide. They’re one of the global leaders in delivering fast-fashion clothing.
Perform a quick search and you’ll find H&M’s current inclusion and diversity statement right away. In it, they express they want to ‘lead the way to a more inclusive world’ and tell us they ‘value diversity in people and ideas, as much as in personal style.’
If that’s their mission, why did their commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment fail to translate into their marketing? The event happened in January 2018, and shortly after H&M’s sales plummeted in the first quarter, leaving them with $4.3 billion of unsold inventory.
The Event
So, let’s get to it. What happened?
In 2018, H&M faced major backlash when they released an ad showing a Black boy (5-year-old Liam Mango) wearing a green sweatshirt.
The problem? Across the green sweatshirt, in capital letters, were the words ‘coolest monkey in the jungle.’ The inappropriateness of the image was amplified by another ad – one that included a white child with ‘Mangrove jungle survival expert’ emblazoned across his sweatshirt. Side by side, the problem was tough to miss!
Context
The word ‘monkey’ has been used as a racial slur against Black people for a long time. Simian-based insults weren’t just used to denigrate Black people, but to justify oppression and slavery. In the mid 1800s, a group of white people tried to formally classify Black people as just above primates on the evolutionary scale (and this was before the publication of Darwin’s theory of evolution!).
Today, in 2021, Black people are still dehumanised and attacked with the word ‘monkey.’ Football arenas, for example, are a common place to reignite this racial slur. In fact, this slur shows no signs of being put to bed. Just look at this recent example of a woman being terrorised by her white neighbours with monkey noises.
The word ‘monkey’ holds a dark and heavy history for Black people – one that companies should be aware of. H&M were catering to parents of kids with this ad, yet, they didn’t consider Black parents of kids, missing a key section of their intended audience. Even during the design stage, there could’ve been deeper consideration about the language and its effects in a diverse society.
Why choose ‘monkey' for this ad? Parents are known to use the epitaph ‘little monkey’ or ‘cheeky monkey’ with their children. If this was the original and intended meaning, it got lost. Why? Well, how often do we hear parents affectionately calling their children ‘jungle survivalists?’ Context adapts meaning.
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The Impact
Social media users and public figures around the globe criticised H&M’s ad, giving rise to the hashtag #BoycottHM. The terms ‘Coolest Monkey H&M’ and ‘H&M racist’ trended on Google for the whole month of January, revealing the extent of interest and outrage!
Even major influencers, from politicians to singers, took to social media to express their disappointment with the brand.
The Weekend, a Black Canadian singer, tweeted: ‘woke up this morning shocked and embarrassed by this photo. I’m deeply offended and will not be working with @hm anymore.’ He’d been appearing in H&M ads, but severed ties with the brand following his statement.
Protests happened offline too. In South Africa, activists and protestors vandalised H&M stores, forcing police to step in. Because of these protests, H&M had to temporarily close its stores in South Africa.
In summary, H&M faced serious backlash.
H&M’s response
H&M issued an apology after the incident. Their first apology wasn’t well-received, with people complaining H&M were sorry for offending, not necessarily for posting the ad.
An updated apology quickly made its way into the public sphere. It said:
“We understand that many people are upset about the image. We, who work at H&M, can only agree. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print. Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering. It is obvious that our routines have not been followed properly. This is without any doubt. We will thoroughly investigate why this happened to prevent this type of mistake from happening again.”
How could this have been avoided?
In their statement, H&M tells us the racism was unintentional – while acknowledging its equally problematic status. Intentional or not, this incident happened because H&M failed to think about their Black audience.
With their international audience in mind, key questions could’ve been asked by the marketing team. For example, would a Black parent buy this hoodie? Would it appeal to all parents? Is there a market we haven’t considered?
The tendency of others to place the blame on the Black parent of the child was unfair. The responsibility of speaking up or questioning the creative choices belonged to H&M’s team. We do not know H&M’s internal processes, but we can assume they have...
A product designer
Product production
A product approval team
A photography team
Even from a design point of view, there ought to be a list of words that aren’t OK to use.
What can we learn from the event?
The H&M scandal has a lot to teach us about inclusive marketing do’s and don’ts. From reading about H&M, we can conclude it’s important for a marketing team to:
Check the context of their copy
Understand the perceptions that arise when you hire models from underrepresented groups
Think about the big picture at all times
To keep inclusive marketing in mind at every stage of a campaign
To have appropriate and several checks in place
In a social media world, a lack of cultural sensitivity or racial awareness can have dramatic effects on the company, leading to calls for ‘cancellation.’
H&M needed to do the above, as well as look at their company culture and the processes in place.
After a review, H&M discovered they had an ‘agreement culture’, in which outside opinions and different viewpoints weren’t encouraged. The Swedes have a word for a balanced view, a middle place, called lagom. This appreciation for the middle ground was absorbed into the culture of H&M. While it’s great for peace-keeping, this way of thinking could have kept opposing viewpoints at bay.
Company culture is another important factor. Can voices be expressed without fear of judgement? Can concerns be raised?
H&M’s course of action
Following the event, H&M appointed Annie Wu, a Taiwanese immigrant raised in Queens, the global leader for diversity and inclusiveness.
With Wu taking the reins, H&M implemented the following to prevent a repeat incident:
A seven-step processing system for all new clothing before they’re on sale
A system making sure 12 people in the studio see photos once uploaded
A system to flag clothes and make notes about cultural insensitivities
A five-person process for final quality checks
H&M also pledged that by 2025, 100 percent of employees would feel they have the same opportunity as anyone else and would see visible diversity in leadership positions.
These are not easy changes to implement for a single person. We hope Wu had a team from different backgrounds involved in training and assembling new processes across departments.
The bottom line
H&M is a global company committed to improving diversity and inclusion. Yet, with their reputation as fashion leaders and their value-driven culture, they still managed to release a racist ad into the world.
It goes to show, inclusive marketing has a place in each company and needs to become a built-in practice, rather than an after-thought.
Every team needs to think about Diversity and Inclusion within their work processes. While unconscious bias training is a good place to start, long-term and impactful change comes from reviewing your processes and weaving inclusivity into your actions.
