A new ad for Ellen DeGeneres' GapKids x ED collaboration has many Twitter users up in arms, saying the way the models are posed has a racist subtext. Below is the ad, featuring a pic of four girls from Le Petit Cirque.
meet the kids who are proving that girls can do anything.
— GapKids (@GapKids) April 2, 2016
check out #GapKidsxED: https://t.co/qbR13BsWIL pic.twitter.com/e47gVghHt0
Specifically, people are reacting to the way the older girl has her arm propped up on the Black girl's head in the photo.
@GapKids proving girls can do anything... unless she's Black. Then all she can do is bear the weight of White girls. #EpicFail
— Fatima La'Juan Muse (@TheTherapyDiva) April 2, 2016
@GapKids my 6 year old saw this and immediately recognized the problem but a whole adult PR dept missed it.
— Loc'd Hair Free Mind (@klpqueen) April 3, 2016
This Gap Kids photo is such an appropriate metaphor for white feminism today: pic.twitter.com/yhebmMRkQ9
— Booty O's (@TheToast2016) April 3, 2016
The girls, aged between 8 and 12, work very closely with one another in Le Petit Cirque to make their acrobatic acts work.
@ASHA7777 @GapKids it's an ad tho it's just a coincidence do u really think they're gonna discriminate that little girl after purposely
— ginnny (@littlekjd) April 3, 2016
Whether or not it was intended to convey a message of subservience, it doesn't mean that viewers, including young Black girls, won't perceive it as such and be harmed by the subtext. There were probably tons of photos from this shoot to select; these are cute girls who know how to perform. What several commentators on Twitter have pointed out is that having a diverse staff of people approving the photos used in the campaign might have prevented this one from going out.
This is why it's important to have diversity behind the scene for marketing projects. #NotYourArmrest @GapKids
— Linda Mitchell (@lindaemitchell) April 3, 2016
We do not know the racial makeup of Gap Kids' marketing staff, so this argument remains theoretical.
Neither Gap Kids nor Ellen DeGeneres have yet to comment on the reaction.
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