Over the last few decades, big-name brands from Adidas and Nike to H&M, Forever 21, Wycon and Urban Outfitters have all been influenced by the black community. They take what they see in the fashion/beauty world within our communities, use it as their own and profit from it. Recently these big names have been under fire for their problematic designs/slogans. In 2003 Urban Outfitters created a board game named Ghettopoly, in the middle of the game was a black man holding a gun in one hand and a 40-ounce beer. There is already a stigma placed on black men specifically saying that they are all violent thugs who will not amount to anything. This board game did nothing but contribute to those stereotypes. After Urban pulled the game from the shelves, you would think people would boycott the company and other brands would learn from their mistake but low and behold that is not what happened. In fact according to investor.urbn.com, the next year their sales increased 31%.
Just a month ago H&M was criticized by the public for putting a young black boy in a sweater that read, “COOLEST MONKEY IN THE JUNGLE”. Even after having released the offensive sweater, H&M’s sales increased 10%. (fashionista.com) But the monkey sweater and offensive board game can’t top Wycons‘ choice to name their nail polish “THICK AS A N*GGA”. Why this Italian beauty brand thought it was okay to name their nail polish any kind of racial slur is beyond me. Black people/people of color have already struggled to see and understand their worth and even now in our black power movement we still are not as confident in ourselves as we should be. White-owned companies are still degrading and mocking black companies and black people. As many of us know, any kind of publicity is good for a company/brand, even if it is negative, it brings attention to the brand which is always a positive thing. Companies are profiting from being blatantly racist and they should not be. Each of these companies have to go through an entire board to get their designs and ideas approved, someone on this team should know that use of racial slurs is unacceptable.
People should not fund companies that bash them the most. There are other companies that have not had scandals who actually support black people. If you are truly looking for the vintage or “urban” look, go to thrift shops! There are plenty of thrifts that are around the neighborhood that can provide you with the same looks for a much cheaper price and better quality. I’m not saying to completely stop shopping at these big brands, but be aware that they probably do not support us and our causes as much as we support them.