Watch: Protesters Trash H&M Store Over 'Racist' Monkey Hoodie

h&m — H&M sign hangs in a window April 7, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. Tim Boyle/Getty

The mounting controversy over an H&M ad campaign widely considered to be racist resulted in a South African store being trashed Saturday. A Twitter moment documented members of a socialist South African political party dirtying up an H&M store in Johannesburg in protest over the ad campaign.

EFF supporters at H&M WATCH the trashing... pic.twitter.com/Kw0xUaG4Cb
— Yusuf Abramjee (@Abramjee) January 13, 2018

Reports indicated the protest was carried out by the Economic Freedom Fighters, a self-proclaimed radical leftist political party in South Africa. The Marxist-Leninist group reportedly said protests would go on indefinitely if the store did not close down within 24 hours.

Here is what the H&M shop in menlyn mall looks like. EFF member in Tshwane have given the shop 24 hours to close its doors permanently, they say failure to do so, will mean protests will continue outside of the store indefinitely. @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/DZpwfowbeV
— Alex Mitchley (@AlexMitchley) January 13, 2018

This was the latest development in a days-long controversy surrounding a new H&M ad campaign that showed a young black child modeling a hoodie with the text “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle” written on it. Though the child’s mother did not see a problem with it, the popular clothing chain apologized for the image.

Marketing fail. H&M puts a black child in a hoodie that reads: "I'm the coolest monkey in the jungle." And the white child is the "survival expert." And now folks are pretending like they don't know that black children have long been racially characterized as monkeys. pic.twitter.com/A90GWeSOEq
— Stacey Patton (@DrStaceyPatton) January 8, 2018

South Africa Twitter Racism

Join the Discussion