H&M Is ‘Deeply Sorry’ for Ad Featuring Black Child in ‘Coolest Monkey’ Hoodie

Retail giant pulls item from its stock after stirring outrage

coolest monkey hoodie hm

Clothing store H&M has issued an apology, after stirring outrage with an ad featuring a black child wearing a hooded sweatshirt bearing the motto “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.”

In a statement to TheWrap on Monday, H&M said that it had removed the image and pulled the garment from sale.

H&M also said that it will “thoroughly investigate” how the ad came about.

“We understand that many people are upset about the image. We, who work at H&M, can only agree. We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print,” H&M said. “Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally.”

The company continued, “It is obvious that our routines have not been followed properly. This is without any doubt. We will thoroughly investigate why this happened to prevent this type of mistake from happening again.”

The image drew wrath on Twitter, including from the group Models of Diversity, which tweeted Monday, “And then H&M UK got the bright idea to feature a black boy model with ‘Coolest Monkey in the Jungle’ hoodie on its website. How on earth can this be? SHAME ON YOU !”

New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow was equally blunt in his assessment of the image, tweeting Sunday, “@hm, have you lost your damned minds?!?!?!”

Read on for more reactions.

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