Shein…She-in Trouble
Social media crises happen often. A brand can produce a campaign or product that is misunderstood or way out of line and make you question, what the heck were they thinking?
There are many reasons why social media crises happen and a lot of companies say it is due to poor “internal structure” …
As a brand you should be aware who you are, what you present, your product and services and most importantly your audience.
Recently a brand came to my attention — one that is taking a lot of heat and is in the middle of their own social media crisis.
Shein is a China-based “international B2C fast fashion e-commerce platform. The company mainly focuses on women’s wear, but it also offers men’s apparel, children’s clothes, accessories, shoes, bags and other fashion items.” The brand is available in over 220 countries and regions around the world and their philosophy is “everyone can enjoy the beauty of fashion.”
I am not one to be following the fashion industry but when my girlfriend mentioned the recent backlash to a Shein product, I was curious to see how the brand would react and respond to the crisis.
Before I begin let me say, no, absolutely not, who thought this was ok?
Shein decided to launch a new necklace. That necklace was a Buddhist swastika which symbolizes spirituality and good fortune.
Yeah… a swastika.
While they are not wrong about what the Hindu swastika represents, you do not launch a product that resembles a swastika, especially if you are an international brand whose millions of customers have diverse beliefs and religions.
Let’s compare the Hindu swastika and Shein’s necklace.
Major difference. I immediately see more similarities with the Nazi swastika. But besides the poor judgment in releasing this product, let’s dig into how the brand responded.
Once customers started questioning the product and demanding an explanation, Shein responded in way that seemed to be more of a defensive approach:
“For the record, Shein was not selling a Nazi swastika pendant, the necklace is a Buddhist swastika which has symbolized spirituality and good fortune for more than a thousand years,” a representative at Shein says. “The Nazi swastika has a different design, it is pointed clockwise and tilted at an angle. However, because we understand the two symbols can be confused and one is highly offensive, we have removed the product from our site.” (CBS News)
They go on to say, “We want to apologize profusely to those who are offended, we are sensitive to these issues and want to be very clear that we in no way support or condone racial, cultural and religious prejudice or hostility.”
To defend their reasoning and blame it on how the symbol can be confusing, doesn’t seem like the best approach.
Even with their reasoning, they labeled the product on their site “Metal Swastika Pendant Necklace”. There is no description explaining the connection to Buddhism — it was simply overlooked or Shein did not think it was necessary.
Customers and influencers are teaming up to boycott this brand. But this is not Shein’s first time under fire for religious or cultural insensitivity.
Earlier this month Shein were selling traditional Southeast Asian style dresses, modeled by white women and renamed, to avoid acknowledging any cultural signifiers.
Around the same time Shein were also selling “fringe Greek carpets” and had the pictures of the Kabaa in Mecca on them, which is considered by Muslims everywhere to be the most sacred place on Earth. (BBC)
When questioned, Shein responded with the following statement — “To our community — we made a serious mistake recently by selling prayer mats as decorative rugs on our site. We understand this was a highly offensive oversight and are truly sorry. Since it was brought to our attention, we immediately removed the products from our site and asked our vendor to stop selling to others.
We also formed a product review committee with staff from different cultures and religions so a mistake like this doesn’t happen again. As a global brand, we vow to do a much better job in educating ourselves on different cultures, religions, and traditions to ensure our diverse community is respected and honored. We offer our sincerest apology to all whom we have hurt and offered, and hope we can earn your forgiveness.”
With the world currently seeing a huge movement for equality and the end of racism, many brands are responding with statements of support or vowing to make changes and donations. While Shein released these offensive products in July, they are also selling a range of “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts, hats and accessories. It appears they pick and choose and when to be aware of the current social climate and they do so when they can profit.
I believe this company will continue to receive backlash over their products and will lose customers. Instead of responding with generic and defensive statements Shein needs to show that as a brand, they are listening, and they won’t continue to sell offensive products. Being an international brand, they should have had a product review committee all along, from different backgrounds, to stay educated on different cultures, religions and traditions, but this is a step in the right direction.
Brands can face social media crises due to lack of judgement and leadership, and many brands can bounce back, learn, improve and come back stronger, however if Shein continues to have back to back crises and respond with generic apologies and inaction, Shein will be out.
