Zara has snatched a children’s t-shirt from its stores, after several people pointed out that it looked uncomfortably like the uniforms Jewish prisoners were made to wear in Nazi concentration camps. Not something you’d want to show up toting at a baby shower, to say the least.
The New York Times has the story. You see, the item was meant to be a cute baby shirt with a little Western-style sheriff’s badge attached. Sure, sounds fine on paper, sans picture. Unfortunately, as journalist Nathalie Rothschild pointed out on Twitter, when you paint a six-pointed golden star on a striped shirt, the ultimate result looks less Wyatt Earp, more appallingly insensitive:
Have the people working at Zara HQ just literally never read a book about the twentieth century? Or do they simply flat-out not care? Admittedly, the real uniforms had vertical stripes, but this isn’t some obscure historical reference! Even Justin fucking Bieber has been to the Anne Frank House.
Online anger quickly spiraled, with +972, Haaretz and other outlets picking up the story. Zara immediately yanked the product and issued its apologies on Twitter in several languages:
Here’s a thought: maybe dedicate some more attention to the stuff you sell before it lands on your website for sale all over the world.