Gap: “Proving that girls can do anything”
Through out the hundreds of advertisements that we are bombarded with everyday there was one ad in particular that seemed to have caught everyone's attention this past week. An advertisement that was categorized by many as “racially insensitive”.
About a week ago, Gap released a commercial for their new children’s clothing campaign. A commercial that was noted as “racist” and “controversial” by many people. As soon as this commercial was released Facebook and Twitter users immediately blew up with backlash towards this commercial and an image in particular.
If you have yet to come across the commercial, here it is:
What many people criticized about this commercial was the fact that the only girl that did not say anything during this interview was the young, black girl. The other girls graciously shouted out there answers to the many questions they were asked.Personally, I can understand why the public thought that this advertisement was racially insensitive. The fact that the only colored girl was the one that did not get asked any questions during this interviews did throw me a little off guard.
But wait, there is more…
Gap released this photo from their campaign photo shoot. As soon as this image was released people immediately commented on the fact that that the black girl was being used as an arm rest by the taller Caucasian girl. Not only did she not speak in the commercial, but she was also being used as an armrest in this photograph. Again, as soon I saw this image it was alarming to me. People were outraged. With all the struggles that minorities face today, you would think Gap would have been a little more careful when it came to posing this photograph.
Apparently, these two girls are related. The girl being used as an armrest and the girl resting her arm are adopted sisters from actress Brooke Smith and she immediately came out and defended her daughters. People responded to her with comments regarding the fact that even if they were sister, that did not take away from the fact that this advertisement did in fact show some underlying racism.
The debate goes on. Whether they are sisters or not, that does not justify the message that Gap accidentally sent out with this photograph. Like I said before, it was careless of Gap to release an image like this, in the society that we are living in today. People everywhere were immediately impacted by this image, why? Because minorities are faced with problems like these everyday, and an image like this from a popular clothing company only reinforces those problems.
