Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 27 February 2020
More companies get into business of Black History Month

By ALEXANDRA OLSON pushing the books and
AP Business Writer nothing about promot-
NEW YORK (AP) — From ing the community,” Lee
shoes and T-shirts to dolls said. “What about that was
and tote bags, more com- grounded in African Ameri-
panies and brands are can history?”
getting into the business of Even companies rooted in
Black History Month but try- the black community can’t
ing not to leave the impres- always escape criticism.
sion that African American OneUnited Bank, the coun-
consumers are important try’s largest black-owned
just once a year. bank, released a debit card
Some businesses are using in mid-February with Harriet
February to show off the Tubman on it as a way to
diversity of their year-round highlight the stalled effort
product lines or to draw at- to put the abolitionist icon
tention to the creative tal- on the $20 bill. There was
ent of their African Ameri- an instant backlash from
can employees. Twitter users who chafed
Target rolled out a Black His- at the image of the former
tory Month assortment that slave on a debit card.
spotlights black-owned Frederick Knight, an associ-
brands such as Honey Pot In this Feb. 20, 2020, photo, items from H&M’s new street wear collection are displayed at a store ate professor of history at
feminine products, Lip Bar in New York. Morehouse College, said
cosmetics and Scotch Por- Associated Press it might have been more
ter, which specializes in meaningful to elevate a
men’s grooming. The col- North America, said she no- Target launched its Black of Project sWish, a Chicago lesser-known figure more
lection includes books, mu- tices more companies pub- History Month assortments foundation dedicated to directly tied to black eco-
sic and food that are favor- licly marking Black History five years ago and has inner city youths. nomic empowerment,
ites among Target’s African Month, but “the next thing since increased the num- Michaels, the arts and pointing to Maggie Lena
American employee re- is to challenge them to do ber of products to more crafts retailer, has a collec- Walker, who chartered a
source group, which has more during the year.” The than 100, carried in more tion of black heritage prod- bank after the Civil War.
more than 1,000 members. Carter collection, for in- than 600 stores. Melanie ucts this year, a project that “There are more appro-
The company has been stance, will be a long-term Gatewood, director of mul- originated with its African priate people they could
promoting the products collaboration, she said. ticultural merchandise, said American and black em- have used this opportunity
through blogs and com- “Let’s not make this about Target was able to tap into ployee resource group. The for, rather than take ad-
mentary from its staff. one month of recognition,” black-owned businesses products include printed vantage of an iconic per-
H&M has a new street wear said Kwubiri, who was hired that it has been working vinyl rolls that have proved son like Harriet Tubman,”
collection designed in col- to her position following an with for years. More than so popular that Michaels Knight said.
laboration with Ruth Carter, uproar two years ago when one-third of the products plans to include them in its But the bank stands by its
the Academy-Award win- H&M featured a black child in the assortment this year permanent collection. decision, noting that the
ning designer behind the model wearing a “monkey are from black-owned or “A major part of avoiding card is the ninth in a series
costumes for films includ- in the jungle” T-shirt on its founded businesses. missteps is being authentic with black faces on them,
ing “Black Panther,” “Mal- website in the U.K. Nike launched a special in anything you do,” said including one launched in
colm X” and “Amistad.” While companies have edition sneaker 15 years Davette Angelo, a mer- partnership with the Black
The pants, shirts, totes and been marking Black History ago for Black History month chandising product man- Lives Matter movement. It
hats — featuring the pan- Month for years, the events with the pan-African col- ager, adding that he and stems from a re-branding
African flag colors of red, are getting bigger, and ors. This year, it has an en- designer Sharae Averhart the company undertook in
black and green — de- more brands are joining in, tire collection modeled by “pulled on our experiences 2015 to put its black identity
buted in February, but the and backgrounds to put as the center of its market-
collection was not billed as this collection together.” ing. OneUnited Bank Presi-
a Black History Month trib- Still, there have been mis- dent Teri Williams said the
ute. takes along the way, espe- Tubman card has been its
“Companies are getting cially when there is no con- best seller.
smart about making it in- sensus on what crosses the Adriana Waterston, senior
tegrated into the rest of line into exploitation and vice president of insights
the year, as opposed to trivialization. and strategy for Horowitz
one month when you give Barnes & Noble this month Research, said companies
money to the NAACP or pulled a widely con- are responding to custom-
run an ad, as opposed to demned line of classic lit- ers that take pride in seeing
treating it as an expense, erature reissued with cov- their heritage represented
just one of those things we ers featuring dark-skinned in powerful brands.
have to do otherwise we’ll versions of characters like “Especially in today’s ra-
get in trouble,” said Brenda Alice in Wonderland. The cially polarized environ-
Lee, founding director of organizers of “Diverse Edi- ment, showing up and
the marketing research firm In this Feb. 20, 2020, photo, items from H&M’s new street wear tions” relied on artificial in- supporting one community
Vision Strategy and Insights, collection are displayed at a store in New York. telligence to review more speaks volumes,” Water-
which researches African Associated Press than 100 older books to ston said. “If you are only
American, Hispanic and identify which ones to reis- showing up once a year,
Asian consumers. seeking to connect with in- young black leaders includ- sue. black consumers will easily
Ezinne Kwubiri, H&M’s head creasingly diverse genera- ing artist Shani Crowe and “That was a great exam- see through this and con-
of inclusion and diversity for tions of consumers. McKinley Nelson, founder ple of that being all about sider you disingenuous.”q