Gap Pulls Ad Called ‘Racist,’ Apologizes to Critics

Clothing retailer Gap has pulled an ad that some critics say delivers a "racist" message.

In the ad, a 12-year-old white girl from a youth performance group is leaning her arm on a black 8-year-old fellow troupe member, who also happens to be her adopted sister. Critics said the ad gives a message of "passive racism."

The campaign, launched last Friday, was made in collaboration with Ellen DeGeneres' lifestyle brand ED. As part of the campaign, Gap Inc., based in San Francisco, is donating $250,000 to the charity Girls Inc. to support its economic literacy program.

"We're partnering with Ellen Degeneres' lifestyle brand ED to encourage girls everywhere to be themselves," according to a statement on Gap's Facebook page.

@GapKids the best way to lose the black demographic. Making your only black model an armrest ?

— Stevie W (@steviegenesis) 3 апреля 2016 г.

On Monday, Gap decided to replace the image in the ad campaign and apologized to critics.

"As a brand with a proud 46-year history of championing diversity and inclusivity, we appreciate the conversation that has taken place and are sorry to anyone we’ve offended," a Gap spokeswoman said in a statement. "This GapKids campaign highlights true stories of talented girls who are celebrating creative self-expression and sharing their messages of empowerment. We are replacing the image with a different shot from the campaign, which encourages girls (and boys) everywhere to be themselves and feel pride in what makes them unique."

Nathalie Yves Gaulthier, founder of Le Petit Cirque, the youth performance group whose members are featured in the ad, posted a message on Facebook after Gap decided to pull the ad: "We still stand behind GAP KIDS and Ellen DeGeneres because this message was ORIGINALLY about: 'KINDNESS' (not sure where THAT went with some of the cruel misconstrued comments that appeared?), 'EMPOWERMENT' (and boy are my girls EVER empowered and stronger NOW!) and "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE: .. (and after this experience, yes indeed, anything really IS possible!!)"

Does the @GapKids pic on the left make the pic on the right okay? Let's debate pic.twitter.com/rCFbK4uG5y

— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) 3 апреля 2016 г.

@TheRoot girl with arm resting on her shoulder is her sister She didn't talk in video because she was 2 shy. everyone needs to calm down.

— Brooke Smith (@Iam_BrookeSmith) 3 апреля 2016 г.

@Ojoyd I'm all for an open + honest discussion of race in America. Difficult to do in twitter land but open dialogue is always a good idea.

— Brooke Smith (@Iam_BrookeSmith) 5 апреля 2016 г.