Seems like this week is dedicated to big brands in big trouble for racial discrimination.
First up: Hollister models made fun of Asian customers at their grand opening in South Korea. Lee Hyung-Ju described the offensive actions on the English Korean news site koreaBANG: "Images of models making 'squinty eyes' faces, flipping their middle
finger to photographers, and mocking Asian pronunciation of English
appeared on their Twitter accounts."
Next up: Hooters in Queens is sued by a Korean-American diner after an employee wrote "Chinx" on the check as the name of the customer, the New York Times reported.
I think these two incidents serve as reminders to HR and Marketing departments to make sure they train/brief the employees on cultural sensitivity. Racist jokes like these hurt the company's image and bottom line.
KoreaBANG wrote: "Major Korean newspapers covered the scandal, as online comments called for a boycott and promised to return clothing they had bought. Other netizens have tracked down the models’ personal details and published them online." Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hollister had just landed in a new market and already talks of boycotting the brand for racial insults? Not good. Talk about biting the hand that is about to feed you! Where's the Chief Culture Officer?
I think these two incidents serve as reminders to HR and Marketing departments to make sure they train/brief the employees on cultural sensitivity. Racist jokes like these hurt the company's image and bottom line.
KoreaBANG wrote: "Major Korean newspapers covered the scandal, as online comments called for a boycott and promised to return clothing they had bought. Other netizens have tracked down the models’ personal details and published them online." Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hollister had just landed in a new market and already talks of boycotting the brand for racial insults? Not good. Talk about biting the hand that is about to feed you! Where's the Chief Culture Officer?
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