Image via Complex Original
BuzzFeed brought our attention to this story from Al Jazeera America that centers on John L. Cook, an Argentine clothing brand that uses the Confederate flag as its primary logo. Think of it as a South American version of Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch. It even has the same sort of look: burnished and worn-in with very wood-heavy stores. Except the one difference is that on just about everything sold by the John L. Cook brand, there is a Confederate flag. Ironically enough, the brand also features many quotes from civil rights leaders and advocates like Maya Angelou and Abraham Lincoln on its Instagram.
Apparently, the brand's founder, Ramiro Fita, found the Confederate flag in Baltimore during a stint in the merchant navy and brought it back home. His wife already made clothes by hand and the two thought of opening their own label that used the culture of the United States as its focus. In the same way that Japanese consumers love American heritage, so does John L. Cook, but in a bit of a different manner.
Speaking to a customer about the controversy surrounding the flag-cum-logo, she hadn't heard of the Confederacy and didn't seem to care: "I think that if a person likes their clothes, then they like them. The logo is just a logo and that's that." Others mentioned how they would stay away from any American-focused company due, but more so due to the hegemony of the U.S.A. over Latin America.
With all the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag here in America today, finding out about this can come as a shock. This is like a much worse version of the previous story about Chinese shoppers not knowing what their English language T-shirts even read. Ain't nothing funny about this shit. As of now, it doesn't seem like the John L. Cook has any plans to change its branding.
