At this point, you'd think people would know better. A store in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood, is on the receiving end of some justified backlash, after using the Black Lives Matter movement in one of their advertisements. Serpentine, who have been selling designer menswear since 2009, took to their Instagram account this week and shared a post with the phrase "Black Fridays Matter". The posts have since been deleted, but users were quick to snap some screenshots of the disastrous pics.
Along with the out of touch, and rather gross pun, the store also sent out an email driving their joke even further. Serpentine delivered a newsletter to their mailing list, claiming that "All Sales Can't Matter Until Black Friday Sales Matter", and joked that people should "mobilize locally". The lame and distasteful sales tactic, was condemned by Toronto's chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement, who spoke to Global News and called it "very disappointing". Hashim Yussuf, a BLM committee member, told the news outlet that "Our movement is not something to be made fun of. This is a matter of life and death for many people".
In a seemingly half-hearted apology, the boutique once again used Instagram to explain their ad campaign. The company reiterated that their staff is multiracial, and that they "didn't mean to disrespect anyone or any group". You can read the entire post below.
Directly in the picture's comment thread, Serpentine was promptly called out, with one user claiming that "Your post is just as stupid as this promotion was. Ignorance is not an excuse". This isn't the first time that the store has utilized questionable imagery. Just a few months ago, ads appeared on their page depicting dead children and gagged women. Complex CA has opted to not embed these pictures, but they still remain on the store's Instagram page.
