AMAZON have pulled a Chinese fancy dress costume from sale after it was advertised with pictures of white children making “slant-eyed” gestures.
The online retailer is suffering a backlash over the racist images which were used by third-party sellers on their site.
The costumes, described as “Chinese boy fancy dress costume” and priced between £21.86 and £22.02, were being sold with the offensive photograph on Amazon by Atosa and Fyasa.
Social media users spotted the images and posted screengrabs to Amazon’s Facebook page and on Twitter. The retailer quickly withdrew the products but has declined so far to explain how they came to be on their site or to apologise.
The row comes just weeks after H&M sparked a massive racism row by posing a black child in a top emblazoned with the words “Coolest monkey in the jungle.”
Lily Ladlow was among those who took to Amazon’s Facebook page to voice her anger at the Chinese costume pictures.
She wrote: “I was very hurt to see the pictures.
“It clearly insinuated the ‘slitty eyes’ racial insult that we Chinese often get. I was appalled that Amazon would happily use a photo that was racially abusive to help sell a product.”
She continued: “I feel Amazon are sending a message publicly that it is acceptable to be casually racist to Chinese people.
“And by refusing to acknowledge or apologise for the incident, I feel that they do not treat us Chinese people with any respect and feel that we can be ignored and dismissed of.
“I speak for a lot of Chinese people that there seems to be a hierarchy of racial abuse victims, with us Chinese lot at the bottom and the black community at the top.”
Arman Sablan posted on Facebook: “I just want to say as a long time customer, you disappointed me with this. A Caucasian boy to represent Asian wear? Doing the slant eye?”
Tak Yeung posted: “Amazon I am so shocked. My friend sent me this photo from your website. I know it’s from a third party company but how can you support such racism.
“Totally unacceptable and offensive especially to the Chinese.”
Jenni Pyw posted: “Seriously Amazon, I’m so shocked! How can you support such racism!!! Unacceptable and offensive especially to the Chinese.
“Maybe it’s just a case of very poor judgement when marketing the seller’s products on your site, but it would be appreciated by many if the inappropriate pictures were removed. Thank you.”
Lousie Wan said: “I see a few has put something up. And yes I find this very offensive and racist.
“This should be removed. Action needs to be taken seriously and immediately please.”
Amazon today flatly refused to explain, or apologise for, the use of the photographs by their retail partners except to say: “The products in question have been removed.”
Neither of the third party retailers involved could be contacted for comment.
The incident comes on the back of Amazon having to remove a series of products that were pro-slavery.
In the last couple of days, Amazon removed a number of items emblazoned with the phrase “Slavery Gets S*** Done”. The products included laptop cases, mugs, bags, children’s T-shirts and bibs..
