Racial insensitivity: Why do Gucci, Prada and others lose perspective?
- Global retailers and fashion brands must deal with issues that might be ‘highly sensitive in another culture’
Retailers and top fashion brands such as Gucci and Prada keep apologising for products that smack of racial insensitivity.
The big question is, why does it keep happening?
Experts say many of these fashion companies live in a bubble and lack the diversity in their staff that could vet their fashions. They also blame the increasing pressures facing the industry to push products from the design board to the stores and online in weeks rather than months without taking the time to thoroughly review products.
“There is such pressure on speed that there is no time for consideration,” said Allen Adamson, co-founder of Metaforce, a marketing firm. “When you are moving this fast, there is no time for perspective.”
Just as quickly as mistakes are made, so too are they amplified over social media as shoppers take to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to voice complaints.
In the latest example, Katy Perry’s fashion line this week pulled two types of shoes – which featured protruding eyes, nose and red lips – that critics likened to blackface. The singer and company said they were saddened that it was being compared to blackface and had envisioned the designs to be a nod to “modern art and surrealism”.
Last week, Gucci removed a jumper from the market after complaints that the oversized collar designed to cover the face resembled blackface make-up. In a statement on Twitter, Gucci acknowledged the mistake and said it planned to turn the incident “into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond”.
