Looking at the picture above, what words would you use to describe it? Some people would say that this photo is made up of all girls, of all different poses, and all different heights. However, many people are not looking at this photo with favorable opinions. This 2016 ad from GAP was posted in order to foster the idea of the empowerment of girls. Nonetheless, many people have taken to social media in pure disgust, accusing the multinational corporation of being racist.
This photo can be analyzed in a variety of different ways. The intention that GAP Kids had was to encourage the empowerment of girls. In an earlier collection, GAP featured girls demonstrating that they can be anything, such as drummers or inventors. When posted on Twitter, it was captioned, "meet the kids that are proving that girls can do anything". This was then questioned when people around the world began to react, including Fatima La'Juan Muse, who commented back with the statement, "@Gapkids proving girls can do anything... unless shes black. Then all she can do is bear weight of White girls. #EpicFail".
The photo is seen as the African-American girl being used as an armrest. I believe that the reaction that society has had on this photo displays the racial gaps that the world is experiencing today. African-Americans are threatened not only in everyday life, but also in the media due to the fact that they are at times presented as inferior.
So, is this photo a problem? The answer is both yes and no. While there are people like me who do not take offense to this ad, there are many people that do. Some people will say that they are overreacting. The answer is no, they are not, as it is not the photo that is enraging viewers, it is the ideas that people are perceiving behind the photo. Whether these ideas were intended or not intended, this is the message that is being conveyed to a large population of people. This leads us to the final question, and that is how can this be fixed?
It is obvious that this issue relates directly to the bigger racial issues dangerously embedded within society today. We should not only be promoting the empowerment of women, we should be promoting the empowerment of everyone. All men, women, and people of all backgrounds. I believe that if we start to promote everyone equally, we can only start to fix the issues of race that occur all over the world. Especially in America, where everyone is said to be equal. It is obvious that everyone is not being treated equally, but if we can work together as people to change it, the world could begin be a better place. Yes, there will be people to stand up and say that the world will never be equal, but with a poor attitude such as that, we will never get anywhere. It is time to stand up against the issues of race so that we can worry about greater issues in the world, not the controversy over a GAP advertisement.
In conclusion, GAP did not fight viewers over their opinion. They respectfully took down the photo and replaced it with a much more socially acceptable photo, which can be viewed below. They also issued an apology to anyone that they may have offended. In this case, GAP respected other peoples wishes and feelings, as we should do everyday. People are not overreacting if the issue is real to them in that moment, and this is something that we all need to take into consideration when dealing with issues such as this.
