Sainsbury's urged to change name of new school trousers over racism fears
Topics: Social Media, Shopping, UK News, Crime
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images/Twitter/@EsheruKwaku
Topics: Social Media, Shopping, UK News, Crime
Sainsbury's and Argos have come under fire from shoppers for including 'racist' wording in the branding for one of their children's school products.
The controversy comes as one customer pointed out the blunder, with two words in the description of a clothing product sometimes being used to surpass social media filters on racial slurs.
Taking to social media to highlight the dubious phrasing, Esheru Kwaku shared a screengrab of a 2 pack of trousers, aimed at boys under seven.
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"Hi @sainsburys @Argos_Online I know you’re the same company, are you aware that the item name below is freely used by racists to by pass n-word filters?" Kwaku wrote online. "May I suggest renaming the item."
The shopper went on to suggest: "Also maybe a few Black faces in the decision making process, to avoid this in the future."
The item's description red on the website: "Grey Reinforced Knee Grow Hem Woven Trousers 2 Pack 7 Years".
The shopper compared the 'Knee Grow' aspect of the branding to the phonetically similar racial slur and added that the phrasing is often used to make racist comments without being picked up on by automatic social media vetting.
Kwaku told Yahoo News: "The first thing I thought was, my God, how could they have missed this?"
And after the wording was pointed out by the Twitter user, hundreds of fellow shoppers joined the wave of critics, who couldn't believe no one had noticed it before the listing went live.
"Omg that's terrible. Who the hell came up with that?" one viewer asked.
Another went on: "I had to read this 3-4 times and thought what you on about, what’s the problem. Then I see it and now can't unsee it. WTAF!"
"You can not read that and not hear/see what it says," a third continued.
A fourth added: "What in fresh hell? I can hardly believe my eyes. Disgusting."
After Tyla approached Tu - Argos and Sainsbury's clothing band - a spokesperson for the firm said: "We’re truly sorry for the upset this has caused.
"We have listened to the concerns which have been shared and are urgently updating the product labelling."
On Argos' website, the link to the product is currently broken, with the item set to be renamed.