Lululemon Athletica is a Canadian apparel brand known for its expensive yoga, athletic wear. A t-shirt with a design featuring a small image of chopsticks with bat wings in red on the front spiked hate crime, racism and xenophobia, reports Tabassum. An exclusive for Different Truths.
“Don’t hate what you don’t understand.” ~ John Lennon
Lululemon Athletica is a Canadian apparel brand known for its expensive yoga, athletic wear. A picture was posted on Weibo, a design featuring a small image of chopsticks with bat wings in red on the front and a winged Chinese takeaway box with the words “No Thank You” on the back. There was no mention of China or the COVID-19 on the T-shirt. Weibo is China’s Twitter-like social media platform.
The fashion brand caught up by the unverified conspiracy theories and ended up in a nose-dive due to design. A design with a bat in a Chinese container. The T-shirt was originally listed for sale on the website of artist Jess Sluder, who has no connection with Lululemon, for US$60.
The social media went on viral, on April 19, 2020, after a link to the design was shared on Instagram by Trevor Fleming, the art director at the company. Some conspiracy theories are going on, to a bat in China played a big role in the occurrence of the COVID-19. The fashion brand caught up by the unverified conspiracy theories and ended up in a nose-dive due to design. A design with a bat in a Chinese container. The T-shirt was originally listed for sale on the website of artist Jess Sluder, who has no connection with Lululemon, for US$60. Lululemon issued an apology on Instagram to rinse out complaints that it was fanning xenophobia and racism.
In an email response to the South China Morning Post, Fleming also apologised, saying: “It is something I deeply regret, and my eyes have been opened to the profound ripple effect that this mistake has had. I apologise to those that have been hurt by this, as well as to my friends and colleagues at Lululemon who have been impacted by this situation.”
Sluder, the artist, said he was sorry for being insensitive and explained the design was intended “to create light during these dark times”. This is absurd reasoning to justifying his actions.
Sluder, the artist, said he was sorry for being insensitive and explained the design was intended “to create light during these dark times”. This is absurd reasoning to
justifying his actions. Earlier, the artist, Sluder, included a caption on Instagram that said: “Where did COVID-19 come from? Nothing is certain, but we know a bat was involved.”
He continued: “Beginning today, my limited edition #quarantees are now available. Link in bio or DM for details… Thank you for your support and sense of humour! #humornothat #batfriedrice,” according to multiple screenshots shared online. This is an absurd excuse to justifying his actions. This incident should not have happened in the first place.
Since February, during the pandemic outbreak, especially South East Asian people were subjected to hate crimes in the UK and some parts of Europe. There was a spike in Hate crimes in the USA when President Trump kept calling the virus a “Chinese Virus”. It should be noted that under the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, diseases names should not refer to areas and groups.
Since February, during the pandemic outbreak, especially South East Asian people
were subjected to hate crimes in the UK and some parts of Europe. There was a spike in Hate crimes in the USA when President Trump kept calling the virus a “Chinese Virus”. It should be noted that under the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, diseases names should not refer to areas and groups. There were reports of hate crimes in North East India where inhabitants or indigenous people look similar to the Chinese people just like the South East Asian and South Asian people. Countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, etc. Coronavirus has no race, religion, colour, ethnicity, caste or borders. It is counterproductive. Such crimes could still be on the rise as the virus continued to spread all over the world. Because some people have decided to fan the flames of racism, misinformation and hate. This topic has become increasingly outrageous. At the time of writing this article, the Vancouver, Canada police are reporting a recent rise in hate crimes against Asian individuals People can be influenced negatively during these unsettling times, and words do matter. They can trigger fear, which leads to anger which in turn leads to violence. A ripple effect.
A disease can break out in any part of the world because of all kinds of reasons. Do we ask viruses their cities, villages or countries? Or do we make fun of it with xenophobia and hidden malice? As tempting as it is to ignore such dangerous talks, it must be pointed out that Chinese people have been hurt twice. First by a virus, then by such rhetoric. It is time to cut the nonsense and focus on the real issue of how to save lives. Those who abused their powers to advocate harmful ideas are the ones who should really apologize wholeheartedly and stop this unacceptable racism, xenophobia and hate speech and crimes. Stay home, follow social and physical distancing and stay safe.
References:
https://retailinasia.com/in-trends/lululemon-apologises-for-controversial-t-shirt-design/
Twitter and Instagram
Photo from the Internet.
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