World News for Students of English

01-02-2022 15:00

Gucci and Adidas have come under fire for what people think were racist designs.

For Gucci, a black balaclava jumper was the centre of the storm because the bright red lips looked like blackface which was a form of make-up used to stereotype black people dating back over 200 years.

In Adidas’s case, Twitter was ablaze with criticism over a white pair of shoes made to celebrate Black History Month.

This is not the first time that the Internet criticised a brand for its poor choice of design. Last year, H&M removed a picture of a black child wearing a hoodie that said: ‘Coolest monkey in the jungle’.

Back in 2014, Zara made a striped T-shirt with what looked like the Star of David on it. It looked like clothing worn by Jews in Nazi concentration camps. Zara apologised for not knowing history and said that it wanted to recreate a sheriff’s star.

Difficult words: balaclava (a thing that you wear which covers your face or only some part of it), ablaze (filled with anger or another strong emotion).

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