Prada apologizes for ‘Pradamalia’ toys that evoke racist blackface imagery

In the 2018 holiday season, luxury fashion brands appear to be competing with one another for worst case of tone deaf racism.

On the heels of Dolce & Gabbana’s disastrous Chinese ad campaign, Prada found itself embroiled in its own controversy over monkey toys and keychains accused of evoking racist imagery. The company later apologized on Twitter, promising to recall the offensive figurines from its new “Pradamalia” line of collectibles.

“The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface,” the company statement read. “Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery. In this interest, we will withdraw all of the characters in question from display and circulation.” Read more…

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