A global apparel brand fixed the racist graffiti on its billboard by some unknown vandals, converting hate messages into a successful social media campaign. Indian experts lauded the move
The fashion industry across the globe has accepted individuals irrespective of their genders, sexual orientations and backgrounds. Probably a few miscreants couldn’t digest it. Gap, a leading American American brand for clothing and accessories, found one of its billboard placed at New York City subway station defaced and full of racist remarks. The advertisement featured a turbaned Sikh actor and jewellery designer Waris Ahluwalia next to Quentin Jones, a model and filmmaker, with the caption “Make love” followed by the brand’s logo. But an unknown vandal replaced it with “Make Bombs” and also wrote “Please stop driving taxis”.
The matter was brought to light by Arsalan Iftikhar, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and senior editor at Islamic Monthly, who posted a snapshot of the Gap subway billboard on his Twitter and Facebook walls. The picture instantly got viral due to Iftikhar’s strong 35,000 followers. What has been lauded the most is Gap’s immediate reaction to the situation. The brand dug out Iftikhar’s Twitter handle and directly asked him about the location of the billboard. Gap’s tweet read, “Hi there. Thanks for informing us. Can you please follow & DM usIJ We’d like to know the location of this.” The company has reacted promptly and is even said to have replaced the advertisement.
It seems that the global brand has managed to convert the crisis into a successful campaign on social media. Not only it acted on time but also nabbed the sentiments that were being hurled in the arenas of social media. This is one instance of not just social media creating awareness but becoming an easy rebranding tool. A formal clarification would not have had the same immediacy and warmth as that of a big corporate directly messaging the complainant and relying on his information. It also helped the label connect with a basic consumer and win his trust. And more importantly establish a recall value at a human level. “The important thing is not how swiftly Gap reacted, the important thing is how it made sure its response was available on every social networking and online flora, artfully selling its brand image. Maybe its ‘Make love’ slogan has been overtaken by its new ‘love you all’ gesture,” said a brand analyst.
The brand’s official Twitter and Facebook pages now have that particular ad in its backdrop. Hundreds of congratulatory messages have also been posted. UrbanVibez @urbanvibez1h on Twitter wrote, “Idiotic and shameful, ignorant people wrecking turbaned Waris’s Gap advert but bravo to Gap’s comeback with full spprt (sic).” A Facebook post by Kuljit Singh said, “We salute Gap for featuring waris in its marketing campaign. I m sikh and we not believe in terrorism! thank you so much gap (sic).” Karthik Srinivasan on Twitter pointed out the brand’s striking marketing strategy. “Simple, topical real-time marketing by GAP (sic),” his tweet read.
One website also published an authored article by Iftikhar in which he wrote, “As a media commentator (and person of colour) who regularly talks about issues related to race, ethnicity and identity issues on a daily basis, I could not sit on my hands and do nothing. So when I saw this Gap subway advertisement defaced by vandals with racist messages, I wanted the world to see how millions of brown people are viewed in American today. So I proceeded to post this photograph to my Twitter and Facebook followers and asked them to share this photograph with their friends to try and create some social media buzz and overall awareness. After hundreds of re-tweets and Facebook shares by people of all colors and backgrounds around the country, there was so much social media buzz in less than one day that Gap contacted me directly after hearing about its vandalised advertisement and wanted to know the exact location.”
Back home, Indians too have reacted to it. While Adman Alyque Padamsee called the racist act “done in poor taste”, fashion designer Nida Mahmood lauded Gap. She also pointed out the resilience in the fashion industry. “They are showing a lot of tolerance towards the
community (Sikh). The fact that they have placed it in the backdrop of their social networking pages proved that the brand supported the idea of harmony. By and large, fashion industry is more tolerant than other industries. People speak about the flaws, differences and dislikes, and discuss them openly,” she said.