H&M advised on corrective steps

SWEDISH multinational clothing retail company H&M would have to “invest in building bridges” after its blunder involving a racially offensive hoodie‚ says intercultural communication expert Jette Kristiansen.

Kristiansen‚ who is based in Cape Town but is a guest lecturer at Southern Jutland University in Denmark‚ said customers needed to be respected. “Customers these days are not just people who bring in money‚ but people who want to be respected.

“[H&M] need to spend more money on understanding their customers, and also think of their black staff who will have to go to work after what has just happened.”

EFF supporters stormed several H&M stores in Gauteng on Saturday‚ days after the company ended sales of a green hoodie with the inscription “coolest monkey in the jungle”, after an advert featuring a black child triggered racism accusations.

Shops in Sandton‚ Menlyn Park and on the East Rand were forced to close after party supporters trashed them.

The company apologised on its Twitter account, and on its website admitted they had got it wrong and were deeply sorry.

On Saturday, H&M spokesman Amelia-May Woudtra said of the damage inside several of the company’s South African stores: “What matters most to us is the safety of our employees and customers. We have temporarily closed our stores in South Africa. None of our staff or customers has been injured. We continue to monitor the situation closely and will open the stores as soon as the situation is safe again.”

Police spokesman Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said police had to intervene and disperse a crowd using rubber bullets when protesters entered the H&M shop in East Rand Mall and stole several items. In Menlyn‚ protesters threw clothing around but nothing had been reported stolen.

EFF national spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi tweeted that the party would visit every racist institution to ensure there were consequences for any denigration of black people. —