Contributed by Teonne Wright, AAF Omaha Board Member & Education Committee Co-chair
In case you missed it, Jordan Valinsky with digiday.com, posted a column titled ‘New Gap Kids ad slammed for racial undertones’. Read more below.
Gap Kids is finding itself in a swirl of controversy for an ad that some on Twitter are saying projects a racist subtext.
At first glance, the tweet sent Saturday, looks ordinary: Four girls from the children’s acrobatic group Le Petit Cirque pose for the brand’s Ellen Degeneres line of clothing, GapKids X ED, with the caption “meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything.”
But in the top right picture, one girl is posing with her arm on a shorter black girl’s head, with some say showing her as merely being support for the white girls that can “do anything.”
Here’s the tweet in question:
Reaction was swift amongst its followers, particularly among Black Twitter users, who slammed Gap Kids:
@GapKids Why is the little black girl being used as an arm rest? I’m sure there were better photos taken. You should fix it.
— Caissie St.Onge (@Caissie) April 3, 2016
@GapKids who thought it was okay to present the ONE black girl as static / armrest FIRE THEM
— tesseract (@A10110110) April 2, 2016
Commenters also took aim at Gap’s marketing department for approving the ad:
Gap didn’t immediately reply for comment.
Update: Gap spokesperson Debbie Felix has issued an apology to anyone offended.
“This GapKids campaign highlights true stories of talented girls who are celebrating creative self-expression and sharing their messages of empowerment,” she said. “We are replacing the image with a different shot from the campaign, which encourages girls (and boys) everywhere to be themselves and feel pride in what makes them unique.”
McGee Williams Osse
McGhee Williams Osse is responsible for spearheading Burrell’s entry into digital and interactive marketing. Under her watch, campaigns have won awards from the Association of National Advertisers and the American Advertising Federation.
To see the original article, please click here.
