Gap found itself at the centre of controversy after releasing an ad featuring four young girls. In the ad, Gap Kids X ED clothing line featured child acrobat team Le Petit Cirque. The masses claim the photo—who only features one black model and three white ones—perpetuated racism, as the black girl was used as a prop, while the others were actively posing. Along with the photo, the tweet read: “Meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything.”
The ad received criticisms and backlash from social media users who described it as “racially insensitive” and “passive racism”
Apparently, the backlash was so strong on Twitter, that it spurred the company to not only extract the tweet, but also release a statement apologizing for the photo.
The American clothing company has issued an apology and replaced the photo with another of four young girls. However, another ad released last year features a black girl leaning on a white girl.(pictured above) Surprisingly, there was no social media backlash.