H&M’s Advertisement: Coolest Monkey in the Jungle

Case Study Proposal
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Case Study Proposal
Introduction and Overview
One of the biggest issues the world has had to face is racism. African Americans and Africans, in general, have had numerous experiences that happen to remind them of the atrocities that Europeans committed. Adverts, political leaders’ speeches, and even movies have often reminded people of color that they are less than human. The use of certain words, phrases, or slurs has left many wounded because of the constant reminder that one is less. In 2018, the world’s attention was drawn to H&M’s advertisement involving a young boy named Liam Mango. In the advert, H&M was advertising a green hoodie through the young boy, and even though this is standard practice, it is the writing on the young boy’s hoodie that caused a lot of people to call out H&M. The writing on the hoodie said “coolest monkey in the jungle,” and even though this seems like a harmless statement, many people, especially people of color, felt offended by the company’s actions. Famous people, including musicians like The Weekend, issued statements condemning the actions of the fashion brand (Stack, 2018). H&M was quick to counter the backlash and said that it was also in shock because its protocols were not followed and that the garment would be removed from its product lines worldwide (Stack, 2018). Further, H&M added that the fashion brand believes in and values diversity and inclusion and that it had started investigations to ensure there would never be a repeat of the same (Thomas, 2018).
H&M’s case is not isolated because there have been such issues all over the world. However, why was this a major issue, and how does it fit within the larger context of this assignment? First, the writing made use of the word ‘monkey,’ which has been a derogatory term that racist Europeans used to refer to Africans in the past. Secondly, the use of the term ‘monkey’ and having the hoodie be advertised by an African child. Such a combination spells ignorance or neglect on the part of H&M, a company that currently stands at $183.361 billion in market capitalization (Yahoo Finance, 2022). The error made was indeed a case of negligence. This case is directly associated with the perceptual context. Perceptual context mainly denotes the viewpoints that people share over something. These viewpoints are often influenced by one’s experiences, and therefore, for this particular case, H&M’s actions led to widespread backlash, especially from Africans because of their racist background. So, by using H&M’s case, this paper seeks to showcase the connection between the company’s actions and the backlash that followed to perceptual context. Aside from making a connection, this paper will showcase how H&M’s actions and the reactions that followed typify perceptual context.
Perceptual Context
Perceptual context denotes how people take in information, their interpretation of the same information, and their response to the same information (Neuliep, 2021). This context is heavily influenced by one’s surroundings, culture, cultural history, and c...