H&M clothing has jump started 2018 smack dab in the center of a racist advertising controversy.

The Swedish clothing retailer has been blasted online after publishing an ad featuring a black child modeling a hoodie with the text “coolest monkey in the jungle.”

Needless to say, it didn’t go over too well online and they have finally issued an apology of sorts.

[Disclaimer: This is an open post. This post will not be censored or moderated. Disqus may automatically moderate certain words considered offensive. There are no rules in ‘Open Posts’ so enter at your own risk.]

Monkeys have often been used as a derogatory way to insult people of color.  Hell… one of the highest trafficked posts on my site is a story about how a Georgia bar was selling racist Barack Obama t-shirts bearing the image of Curious George (click HERE if you missed that).

That being said, it really doesn’t surprise me to see that H&M is under fire for doing something similar.

H&M’s racially insensitive advertising has caused a social-media fire storm and has even prompted Canadian artist, The Weeknd, to end his collaboration with the Stockholm-based company.

The image, which originally appeared in the company’s UK online store, was quickly deleted but not before it went viral online as many expressed outrage.

Some have even sought to replaced the disturbing image being portrayed by the company with a more appropriate representation of our young Black kings.

H&M eventually pulled the garment in question from its online stores and has issued the following apology:

We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken and we also regret the actual print.

Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally.

Too little too late.

What are your thoughts about this H&M ‘Monkey’ controversy?

Will you continue to shop at the retail chain?