Gap Apologizes for Using Black Child as Furniture in Ad

April 24, 2016 – This week in corporations-who-might-need-a-black-friend news, nineties clothing manufacturer Gap came under fire for its latest ad campaign featuring a group of child performers called “Le Petite Cirque” with critics labeling the photo used in the campaign as racially insensitive. While the company asserted that the promotional effort was conceived for young girls as a celebration of “creative self-expression” and used the tag line “meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything,” what actually happened was a black girl got used as an armrest while a bunch of white girls showed off their various talents. To their credit, Gap quickly replaced the image with a different photo that didn’t use the only person of color as a piece of furniture. The response on social media ranged from refusing to buy Gap clothing to defending the company from charges of racism by pointing out an earlier campaign used a similar image.

@GapKids The white girls can do anything but the black girl is an arm rest? Congratulations on the passive racism, #gap.

— Luke (@lukemort) April 3, 2016

“As a brand with a proud 46-year history of championing diversity and inclusivity, we appreciate the conversation that has taken place and are sorry to anyone we’ve offended.”  

According to the NY Daily News’ covering of the situation, “some (tweeters) disagreed, saying that “people become offended way too easily” and chiding other users, “Don’t make race an issue and it won’t be.”