Brand Responsibility: The significance of social consciousness & why many brands aren’t ‘woke’.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up to the outrage that flooded social media, in response to H&M’s ( a multinational clothing-retail company) publication of their new collection, which infamously showcased a young boy modelling a green hooded top with the copy: ‘Coolest Monkey In Jungle’ printed on the front.

Seems innocent enough right?

Were it not for the obvious racial connotations, which spurred the immediate and suspicious interpretations that were formed by public opinion. The news quickly spread across media and forums, with individuals and institutions from within and outside the black community, offended and shocked by H&M’s release. Celebrities and public figures swiftly came out to disparage and distance themselves away from H&M’s brand, with the high-profile musician, The Weeknd publicly announcing the termination of their brand partnership. The backlash was so substantial that H&M were forced to issue a public apology, it was a PR nightmare to say the least.

Usually, I chose not to comment on such sensitive issues, as a writer the prospect of being harried by the police of political correctness, leads to an uncomfortable process of self-censoring that robs a conversation of any integrity or sincerity. However, I feel that there is an important dialogue as well as another angle to explore in this issue.

Now, I am not a person to jump on a bandwagon, even in favour of the common consensus. Nor, do I think it is wise to respond to or commentate on such sensitive issues in the immediate aftermath, as that would mean my perspective would be inspired by emotional instinct rather than reason. So, I took a few days to educate myself on the matter. I stood back and watched everything unfold, watched as people quickly vowed to boycott H&M; watched as the mother of the child came out in defence of the image and was instantly met with backlash; I watched as the young child literally became the poster boy of the ‘racial insensitivity’.

Honestly, I do not think or rather more accurately, I choose not to believe that H&M’s release was maliciously intended. However, I do believe that the ad was not just a mishap but rather an incredible and unacceptable act of negligence and insensitivity. This is another notable example of the poor brand responsibility of major companies and corporations, this is not first and nor will it be the last time that something like this occurs. Unfortunately, it will continue until the root of the problem is addressed, which is the severe lack of social consciousness by major brands and businesses.

Upon first sight, I thought it was absolutely outrageous that nobody at H&M, not the photographer, the stylist nor the creative director spotted the insensitive connotations, unconscious or not. Then it dawned on me, the people in charge of the ad must have simply been ignorant of the racial tensions between the pertaining communities and thus insensitive to the fresh wounds of past afflictions such as black people notoriously being referred to as ‘monkeys’. No one is saying H&M should have #BlackLivesMatter on their Twitter bio, even I don’t have #BlackLivesMatter on my social media, but hiring staff who have the social consciousness to simply be aware such issues would be real progress, this applies to all major brands and businesses how have also been guilty of a lack of social consciousness, not just H&M.

Here is where we find the root of the problem, the reason for the severe lack of social consciousness is the even more severe deficit of diversity within such brands and businesses. If a workforce is not representative of the social communities within their market, they therefore will not be able to relate or empathise with their customers and consumers. When brands realise that diversity within the industry is more than a social problem but rather a business problem, then issues such as H&M’s controversy will be easily avoided.

Richie Babalola. Storyteller // I write, create & document.

Socials: @richiebabalola

Email: richie.babalola@gmail.com