Shocking storefront display in Yorkville comes under fire

A shocking display at a designer clothing store in Yorkville has people asking why racial undertones and links to slavery were used as an marketing tool.

Two nooses can be seen dangling over a man’s shirt surrounded by cotton plants in Eton of Sweden’s storefront on Yorkville Avenue, in the Bay and Bloor street area.

The display first came to light on social media by Rhona Bennett, a member of the R&B group En Vogue, which is in Toronto shooting a documentary.

The company’s North American sales director, Chris Donohue, told CityNews that it was meant to be a whimsical display of a swing over a cotton field.

Donohue said there was no malicious intent and the display was taken down later Friday.

This isn’t the first time the fashion industry has been criticized for being racially and culturally insensitive.

H&M, Victoria’s Secret, Urban Outfitters and Paul Frank have all come under fire for appropriating Native American culture on runways and in their clothing lines.

And earlier this week, pictures were posted online from an Indian fashion shoot of a woman being sexually assaulted on a bus. The parents of a 23-year-old woman, who was gang-raped on a New Delhi bus in 2012 and later died, have demanded action against the photographer.

Click here to see other controversial advertising campaigns.

With files from Reuters

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