Last year, Urban Outfitters published a line of "Navajo" products, inlcuding items as inappropriate as underwear and flasks with "Native American" designs. After the products hit the shelves, many customers were upset with how the company "has taken Indigenous life ways and artistic expressions and trivialized and sexualized them for the sake of corporate profit." Even worse, the Navajo Nation had its Department of Justice sent a cease-and-desist letter to stop Urban Outfitters from selling any more "Navajo" products.
The items are still available, however, Urban Outfitters has since had to pull the names, which, in addition to being culturally offensive, turned out to be a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act and Federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act, which states that “It is illegal to [...] sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is [...] the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States.”
Forever 21 committed a similar, yet more debatable, faux-pas: the Oriental Girl necklace. Shine from Yahoo Canada calls the necklace "odd and offensive" and says "Lumping all Asian people into an archaic, offensive label like that is just plain wrong", while others can find nothing offensive about it and call the stir an over-reaction.
Brooklyn based jewelry store Bejeweled infuriated customers with their Swastika earrings. But the symbol, standing for Nazi Germany as a mirrored image of the Sanskrit peace and prosperity, divided the public into pro-personal expression and con-racism camps. Even though the shop owner published a statement saying that the earrings were manufactured in India and do face the traditional Buddhist way, she took them off the shelves to end the uproar.
The bottom line is that perhaps especially in this day and age of globalization, people demand a respectful and sensitive approach to cultural identity. The racism of the past should teach us to do better in the future. So if you are planning on going public with a custom design, may it be a clothing line or company logo, printed, embroidered or embossed, be aware of this issue and be considerate to avoid hard feelings, lawsuits and losing customers.
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