The fashion industry is always looking to push the boundaries and try new things, but sometimes brands do things that are not acceptable.
In my time as a public relations student, I have always been taught to ask “what’s the worst thing that can happen?” When brands don’t constantly ask themselves that, they can get lost and do things that come back to haunt them.
The luxury brand, Gucci, failed to ask that incredibly important question when they released a sweater resembling blackface. The turtleneck sweater is pulled over the lower half of the white model’s face. It is all black wool with a hole surrounded by red lips opening for the wearer’s mouth to peek through.
Images of the $890 sweater first began to appear on social media on February 6, 2019, and the public immediately began to react negatively.
People called the design “racist”, “Haute Couture Blackface” and were encouraging others to boycott the brand.
After the wave of backlash, Gucci released a statement saying that they had removed the sweater from online and all retail locations. Its statement shared on Twitter, continued by saying:
“Gucci deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the wool balaclava jumper, we consider diversity to be a fundamental value to be fully upheld, respected, and at the forefront of every decision we make. We are fully committed to increasing the diversity throughout our organization and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond.”
The collection this sweater was a part of was supposedly inspired by vintage ski masks and the brand had no intention of creating a garment that resembled blackface. However, the designers failed to ask themselves, “what’s the worst that can happen?” and that was where they went wrong.
In the world we live in today where everything is shared on social media and consumers are more discerning than ever, brands need to really think about the messages they send with their products.
Having a diverse group of employees with different opinions, who come from different backgrounds is incredibly important. Companies need to educate their employees about history and how to be respectful of different cultures and backgrounds.
Brands also need to encourage employees to stand up when they think something is wrong so that situations like this can be avoided in the future.
As someone who will be entering the public relations workforce soon, I will be looking to work for a company that shares the same values as I do and to feel comfortable saying something if I feel that people could potentially be offended by a campaign or product.
What would you do if you encountered a situation at work where your personal values were telling you something was wrong?