New Gap Kids ad slammed for racial undertones

By Digiday • April 4, 2016 •

Gap Kids is finding itself in a swirl of controversy for an ad that some on Twitter are saying projects a racist subtext.

At first glance, the tweet sent Saturday, looks ordinary: Four girls from the children’s acrobatic group Le Petit Cirque pose for the brand’s Ellen Degeneres line of clothing, GapKids X ED, with the caption “meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything.”

But in the top right picture, one girl is posing with her arm on a shorter black girl’s head, with some say showing her as merely being support for the white girls that can “do anything.”

Here’s the tweet in question:

meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything.

check out #GapKidsxED: https://t.co/qbR13BsWIL pic.twitter.com/e47gVghHt0

— GapKids (@GapKids) April 2, 2016

Reaction was swift amongst its followers, particularly among Black Twitter users, who slammed Gap Kids:

@GapKids Why is the little black girl being used as an arm rest? I’m sure there were better photos taken. You should fix it.

— Caissie St.Onge (@Caissie) April 3, 2016

@GapKids proving girls can do anything… unless she’s Black. Then all she can do is bear the weight of White girls. #EpicFail

— Fatima La’Juan Muse (@TheTherapyDiva) April 2, 2016

@GapKids who thought it was okay to present the ONE black girl as static / armrest FIRE THEM

— tesseract (@A10110110) April 2, 2016

That ad certainly isn’t suggesting that *black* girls “can do anything,” @GapKids. It’s incredibly distasteful to your black consumer base.

— stacia l. brown (@slb79) April 3, 2016

@GapKids yeah that’s cool and all but no one should be resting on anyone’s head. Not cool pic.twitter.com/IDhNLc21EO

— ReadEverythingDotCom (@ASHA7777) April 2, 2016

Commenters also took aim at Gap’s marketing department for approving the ad:

@GapKids my 6 year old saw this and immediately recognized the problem but a whole adult PR dept missed it.

— Loc’d Hair Free Mind (@klpqueen) April 3, 2016

This is why it’s important to have diversity behind the scene for marketing projects. #NotYourArmrest @GapKids

— Linda Mitchell (@lindaemitchell) April 3, 2016

Gap didn’t immediately reply for comment.

Update: Gap spokesperson Debbie Felix has issued an apology to anyone offended.

“This GapKids campaign highlights true stories of talented girls who are celebrating creative self-expression and sharing their messages of empowerment,” she said. “We are replacing the image with a different shot from the campaign, which encourages girls (and boys) everywhere to be themselves and feel pride in what makes them unique.”

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