Zara is no stranger to controversy. They have created a shirt resembling a Nazi concentration camp uniform, denied a woman in a hijab entry to a store in Paris and, more recently, featured skinny models in a “Love Your Curves” ad. Now, the Spanish fashion chain is facing backlash once again for a skirt that seemingly depicts Pepe the Frog, a viral internet meme turned hate symbol.
The denim skirt, which has since been pulled from Zara’s website, features an image that strongly resembles the Pepe the Frog character. It was part of their “Oil on Denim” festival-inspired collection, which includes “Nope” jackets and brightly-colored peacock illustrations.
When the Pepe-lookalike skirt made its debut, one social media user was quick to take notice. “Zara us really out there trying to sell a P*pe the frog skirt, apparently unaware (?) of its current implications,” one Twitter user wrote Monday night. “This is bad,” she added.
This is bad pic.twitter.com/8a2cbx0T70
— goth kulture (@meaganrosae) April 18, 2017
Pepe the Frog, which started off as an innocent green frog comic, was designated a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League last year when it became synonymous with white supremacy. According to their Hate Symbols Database:
The Pepe the Frog character did not originally have racist or anti-Semitic connotations. Internet users appropriated the character and turned him into a meme, placing the frog in a variety of circumstances and saying many different things.
[…]In recent years, with the growth of the “alt right” segment of the white supremacist movement, a segment that draws some of its support from some of the above-mentioned Internet sites, the number of “alt right” Pepe memes has grown, a tendency exacerbated by the controversial and contentious 2016 presidential election. Though Pepe memes have many defenders, the use of racist and bigoted versions of Pepe memes seems to be increasing, not decreasing.
Many on social media agreed that featuring the symbol on the skirt was a misstep. Others, however, believed that a different frog was pictured or that Zara had done nothing wrong.
See how social media reacted to the Pepe the Frog skirt below:
Social Media Reacts to Zara’s Pepe the Frog Skirt
Zara is really out there trying to sell a P*pe the frog skirt, apparently unaware (?) of its current implications https://t.co/gQ3bimsdg2
— goth kulture (@meaganrosae) April 18, 2017
Make Pepe great again
— Nick Bunzick (@goodbyenicholas) April 18, 2017
@meaganrosae @biancaxunise Having just read way too much about Zara they have withdrawn handbags w/ swastikas on them & pajamas that look like concentration camp unis
— Brandon (@brandonzwa) April 18, 2017
Zara ¯_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/VxLi0B55XF
— Tom (@ahdamia) April 18, 2017
So Zara put a (allegedly) Pepe meme on a skirt and it's a hate symbol now but it actually looks like Old Man Jenkins to me pic.twitter.com/UUphmEMfkg
— Alexa DeAngelis (@_deange) April 18, 2017
People freaking out over a CARTOON FROG on a skirt. Welcome to 2017 America. https://t.co/Z5GJzadyAU
— Darnell D. Scott (@darnelldscott) April 18, 2017
Omg Zara are selling a Pepe skirt and people are losing their minds I'm done. pic.twitter.com/pnlOyD0jhj
— Danielle Louise (@danidotx) April 18, 2017
Ugh Zara why did you make this skirt?!? Now I need to rethink my obsession with them https://t.co/bF3JXyrkV5
— missDTM (@missDTM) April 18, 2017
What are your thoughts on Zara’s Pepe the Frog skirt? Do you agree with their decision to pull the skirt from their site? Sound off in the comments section below!