Forever 21
Apologizes for Blond White Model …
As Face of ‘Black Panther’ Ad
12/18/2018 2:48 PM PST
Exclusive Details
2:47 PM PT — A rep for Forever 21 tells us, “Forever 21 takes feedback on our products and marketing extremely seriously. We celebrate all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities and apologize if the photo in question was offensive in any way.”
The image of the model has also been swapped for one of just the sweater.
This is definitely a “You Might Wanna Rethink” moment for Forever 21. The retailer’s using a white model to try and sell you its “Black Panther” merch for Christmas. Oh, boy …
The images are live on its site right now for Forever 21’s Wakanda Forever Fair Isle Sweater. It’s a blond-haired, blue-eyed white dude rockin’ its custom Christmas sweater, with a “Wakanda Forever” slogan and a Black Panther mask on the front.
It’s definitely not an oversight either — someone at F21 really thought this would be a good idea, as they have the model’s stats on the same page … he’s 6’1″ and sports a medium fit.
We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with white people supporting “Black Panther” or even wearing something like this — on the contrary, more power to ’em.
But, to not feature a black model for this Christmas sweater campaign seems out of touch and just dumb, if you ask us. Sometimes common sense just ain’t all that common, is it?
Originally Published — 1:08 PM PT