Maham, a Twitter user, was highly disappointed with the way a fashion brand named ‘Elan’ advertised their Lawn collection with black people presented as ‘props’.
In a series of Tweets from her Twitter handle of over 13,000 followers, the Twitterati explained how painful it was to see renowned fashion brands continuously practicing such campaigns to sell their product and how it hurt sociocultural sensitivity.
Maham posted a screenshot of Elan’s photoshoot post and pointed out how a black man is used as a ‘prop’.
Why are Pakistani brands so incredibly tone deaf? really using black people as props for their photos to sell their lawn collection when there is an entire fucking movement going on in the US at the same time. pic.twitter.com/HKBvPrtHsN
— ماہم (@lightermachis) June 2, 2020
She also talked about the recent campaign in USA regarding racism and added how it was even more irresponsible act to do such campaign during current time.
3. The timing of the images being released is suspect.The inclusivity is a sham if you are not cognizant of the context in which you’re releasing the photos. Rather than centering #BlackLivesMatter you’re using a campaign to extend your tokenistic inclusivity + sell your clothes
— ماہم (@lightermachis) June 2, 2020
Sharing yet another screenshot from Elan’s official Instagram account, Maham said that she didn’t care to be called ‘Xenophobic’, meanwhile, underlined how the photoshoot showcased black men as ‘props’ for glamorous, decked-in-lawn Pakistani model.
I would engage with the replies that are calling me out for being “xenophobic” but your defense of Elan is SO disingenuous, I don’t care to respond: however, leaving this out here. Definitely not props, yeah? pic.twitter.com/knGFjfneDy
— ماہم (@lightermachis) June 2, 2020
Maham gave examples of other brands advertising black models to promote their new collections. However, bashed Elan for continuously pulling similar exercise into their photoshoots.
5. Other international brands have used black models, yes, but in a way that is on an equal grounding. Elan has a history of pulling similar shit so excuse me if I find their defenses disingenuous.
— ماہم (@lightermachis) June 2, 2020
This is not the first time a fashion brand faced such a reaction from the people on the basis of racism and colorism as earlier brands like Sana Safinaz had suffered through this.
