Retailer American Eagle has issued an apology after some shoppers claimed a bracelet featured in the store resembles shackles used to keep people enslaved.
In multiple social media posts across Facebook and Twitter, people expressed outrage over the bracelet, using hashtags such as “#slaveryisover” and “#slavesnomore”:
@american_eagle I saw this "bracelet" in and think you need to revisit this. I would never wear this due to the obvious slavery connection. I hope you do the right thing and remove this from your stores. Please retweet your support. #SlavesNoMore pic.twitter.com/aShkem9szx
— Ronald E. Frazier II (@Ron_II) December 11, 2017
I can guarantee you that whoever designed this mess knew EXACTLY what they were doing and the fact that someone @AEO okayed it is telling. Guess I’ll have to stop shopping there. #slaveryisover https://t.co/vjtDeQkhLa
— Photodiva (@photodiva2000) December 15, 2017
@AEO wyd? 🤔
— Rey (@SupaTev) December 12, 2017
Like...do you not...
How did yall t...
Why would yo...
🤦🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/LwfZLnekt4
@AEO so is this supposed to be funny? Your really selling this in your stores? I find this disturbing that in 2017/2018 companies like you would be selling what looks like shackles and think that it's ok. There will be resistance to this. pic.twitter.com/fZPAVkxs4N
— Duffism101 (@incduff) December 12, 2017
Due to the outrage, American Eagle issued an apology for the bracelet and claimed they removed the product from their stores:
We’ve heard and understand the concerns about the bracelet. We apologize and will remove the product from our stores and website.
— American Eagle (@AEO) December 12, 2017
Despite the apology, some were not convinced American Eagle was sincerely sorry enough for the bracelet:
Yeah, screw your apology. If you want to really make amends, you'll explain how this got approved to sell in stores. Don't need names. Just want to know how none of you actually understood that this was offensive. You basically tried to commercialize blackface.
— Glenn Jeffers (@gjjeffers) December 16, 2017
I’m not sure this is a ‘we got caught and are sorry’ moment. Who designed it? Who gave this the ok? Nobody thought it was a bad idea? It shouldn’t be the job of offended customers in stores to be checking your products?
— Michael (@MichaelHBF) December 12, 2017
FYI though they’re not “concerns” they’re facts. Whoever thought of the concept for the bracelet and whoever said it’s ok to distribute it needs reprimanding.
— Ti (@tiAna_laChae) December 12, 2017
@AEO hire people of color to leadership, product design, buying, marketing, and ecommerce teams then we can hear a “sorry”
— Allison ✌🏼 (@allisonhopstad) December 12, 2017
As Yahoo News notes, while American Eagle is not the first retailer to offer this style of bracelets. There are many styles of clasp bracelets for women that have similar closures.
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