Marni slaat mea culpa over racistische campagne

Marni kreeg deze week een storm van kritiek over zich heen voor campagnebeelden die door veel fans als racistisch ervaren worden. Nu komt het Italiaanse luxelabel met excuses over de brug.

De beelden in de campagne in kwestie zijn tamelijk ongelukkig en stereotiep. Ter promotie van z’n nieuwe flipflops huurde het Franse merk enkele zwarte modellen in. Die werden uitgedost met etnische accessoires, zoals geweven hoeden en houten kettingen. Bij een van de modellen werden die kettingen rond de enkels gebonden op verschillende foto’s prijken slogans als ‘jungle mood’ en ‘barefood in the jungle’.

De beelden, die nochtans gemaakt werden door de Braziliaanse fotograaf Edgard Azevedo, schoten bij veel modefans in het foute keelgat. ‘Stereotyp’ en ‘racistisch’ waren de commentaren. Ook Diet Prada, het Instagram-account dat de modesector regelmatig op het matje roept, liet van zich horen.

Geen alleenstaand geval

Het kritische account verwijst naar een H&M-campagne uit 2018, waar een zwart jongetje een trui droeg die bedrukt was met de woorden ‘Coolest monkey in the jungle’. Ook Prada, Gucci en Dolce & Gabbana gingen in het verleden al in de mist met racistische campagnes of ontwerpen.

‘We bieden onze excuses aan voor de schade die onze laatste campagne heeft veroorzaakt’, klinkt het bij Marni. ‘Wat bedoeld was als een campagne die de schoonheid van de Afro-Braziliaanse cultuur viert, had het tegenovergestelde effect. Onze onoplettendheid is onaanvaardbaar en dat spijt ons ongelofelijk’, zo staat er te lezen op Instagram.

Intussen is de volledige campagne offline gehaald.

1.0On Friday, Italian brand @Marni , known for its quirky, irreverent take on luxury fashion, sent out an e-mail blast for their new SS20 campaign. In the series of images, which were also simultaneously posted on Instagram, Black models are juxtaposed with some choice words evoking the season’s mood–“jungle mood,” “tribal amulet,” and “barefoot in the jungle” among others.
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You might remember H&M’s “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle” hoodie from 2018, which was photographed on a young black boy, and recalled a legacy of simianized representations of Black people as apes and monkeys. Ditto Prada’s “Otto” keychains which caused a scandal later that same year and in the months prior, an incident with Gucci’s blackface balaclava. It was a rough year for fashion brands, but it hasn’t stopped.
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Marni’s new campaign is more nuanced, but no less problematic. With the models styled in a smorgasbord of ethnic accessories like Bayong wood necklaces from the Philippines, Caribbean woven grass hats, and other non-descript wooden jewelry (none of which are Marni), the images begin alluding to racist, colonial stereotypes of Black people as primitive, uncivilized, and unmodern people. One model is even painted in clay, evoking tribal bodypaint. In another image that’s since been deleted from the brand’s Instagram account, a link of chains near the model’s feet resulted in some terrible shackle-like optics.
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It becomes a more layered conversation though, when you discover the photographer Edgar Azevedo is Afro-Brazilian. Meanwhile Giovanni Bianco, the art director, is Brazilian-Italian. Was something lost in translation? More context provided by the brand to explain the vision and collaboration with the photographer could have helped in this situation, but needless to say, the damage was done when the marketing team decided on those words.
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These stereotypes are just some of the ways the institution of white supremacy has oppressed, dehumanized, and deprived Black people of their human rights. For yet another fashion brand to reflect these tropes further proves the work that needs to be done to dismantle the pervasive racism throughout the world.diet_pradahttps://www.instagram.com/diet_prada15944942372363342726300009777_1594494237Instagramhttps://www.instagram.comrich658

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On Friday, Italian brand @Marni , known for its quirky, irreverent take on luxury fashion, sent out an e-mail blast for their new SS20 campaign. In the series of images, which were also simultaneously posted on Instagram, Black models are juxtaposed with some choice words evoking the season’s mood–“jungle mood,” “tribal amulet,” and “barefoot in the jungle” among others. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ You might remember H&M’s “Coolest Monkey In The Jungle” hoodie from 2018, which was photographed on a young black boy, and recalled a legacy of simianized representations of Black people as apes and monkeys. Ditto Prada’s “Otto” keychains which caused a scandal later that same year and in the months prior, an incident with Gucci’s blackface balaclava. It was a rough year for fashion brands, but it hasn’t stopped. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Marni’s new campaign is more nuanced, but no less problematic. With the models styled in a smorgasbord of ethnic accessories like Bayong wood necklaces from the Philippines, Caribbean woven grass hats, and other non-descript wooden jewelry (none of which are Marni), the images begin alluding to racist, colonial stereotypes of Black people as primitive, uncivilized, and unmodern people. One model is even painted in clay, evoking tribal bodypaint. In another image that’s since been deleted from the brand’s Instagram account, a link of chains near the model’s feet resulted in some terrible shackle-like optics. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It becomes a more layered conversation though, when you discover the photographer Edgar Azevedo is Afro-Brazilian. Meanwhile Giovanni Bianco, the art director, is Brazilian-Italian. Was something lost in translation? More context provided by the brand to explain the vision and collaboration with the photographer could have helped in this situation, but needless to say, the damage was done when the marketing team decided on those words. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ These stereotypes are just some of the ways the institution of white supremacy has oppressed, dehumanized, and deprived Black people of their human rights. For yet another fashion brand to reflect these tropes further proves the work that needs to be done to dismantle the pervasive racism throughout the world.

A post shared by Diet Prada ™ (@diet_prada) on Jul 28, 2020 at 9:07am PDT

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