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How H&M is trying to ensure ‘coolest monkey’ hoodie incident never happens again

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The H&M store in Menlyn Mall was trashed by EFF members following the uproar over the company’s “coolest monkey” hoodie. Picture: @alexmitchley/Twitter
The H&M store in Menlyn Mall was trashed by EFF members following the uproar over the company’s “coolest monkey” hoodie. Picture: @alexmitchley/Twitter

Having removed the racist “coolest monkey” hoodie from their shelves and pulled the advert from airing, global retail store Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has undergone an organisational diversity transformation exercise to remedy its “mistake” and ensure that a similar incident does not occur.

This was according to H&M country manager Oldouz Mirzaie who spoke at the Anti-Racism network’s annual conference on Thursday.

Mirzaie said with the assistance of the conference’s organisers – the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and the Anti-Racism Network of SA – “H&M had to come to a realisation that its [operational] processes were not good enough, there had to be diversity of thought and perspective, not just diversity in what meets the eye”.

Having come to this realisation, the global retail company committed to and held a workshop together with the Anti-Racism Network of SA at the Swedish Embassy where global and local diversity and inclusivity managers were appointed to facilitate the meeting.

This was also followed by the company teaming up with a black-owned creative and advertising agency as it investigated the potential for more local productions which would avoid using stereotypical or offensive representations.

Stan Henkeman, the executive director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, said remorse following a racism incident was good, but what was more important was to follow that up with the question “how do I correct this?”

He said in so doing, the H&M case study could serve as an important lesson for SA businesses should they find themselves dealing with racial incidents of a similar nature.

The entire purpose for the anti-racism conference was to “find pathways to an anti-racial society” explained executive director of the Kathrada Foundation, Neeshan Balton

“We have called this conference ‘Pathways to anti-racism’ because there are many responses to racism and we cannot take a singular approach towards attaining anti-racism,” said Balton.

Former deputy speaker of the Gauteng Legislature, Mary Metcalfe, said there were numerous obstacles towards achieving this idea of a non-racial society.

“Racism is inherent in our structurally unequal society which perpetuates a perception that reinforces biases based on one’s racial orientation,” said Metcalfe.

She gave a generalised illustration of how people are always quick to say “white toilets are clean and black toilets are dirty” using Park Station and Sandton as an example.

“Such distinctions are really due to the unequal allocation of resources to maintain the upkeep of toilets and have nothing to do with the colour of people’s skin.

“It is very difficult for us to escape such biases that lead to racism unless we engage in a daily and conscious determination to recognise the biases and root them out,” said Metcalfe.

Associate Professor of the school of governance at the University of the Witwatersrand and executive chairperson of the Democracy Works Foundation, William Gumede, suggested the criminalisation of racism or combating this “social construct through bringing social equality”.

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