Old Navy came under fire last week after tweeting a campaign photo of a mixed-race family. The tweet was meant to advertise Old Navy’s ‘Thank You Event,’ in which customers could receive 30 percent off their purchases.
Unfortunately, some shoppers became enraged at the image of an interracial family and took to Twitter to voice their opinions.
The tweets ranged from “Absolutely disgusting. What’s next? Gender neutral bathrooms? Pedophilia acceptance propaganda?! Never shopping here again,” to “Old Navy HATES White babies! It takes a White mother and a White father to make a White baby. stop #White Geocide.”
Other shoppers even promised to stop shopping at the company if they continued to feature interracial families.
A number of tweets included the term “miscegenation,” which is defined as the interbreeding of people of different racial types.
“Stop promoting miscegenation or else I’m taking my $$$ elsewhere!!!” said another person.
These hateful responses hurt our hearts—but thankfully, not all of the reactions to the Tweet were negative. Hundreds of mixed-race couples responded to the negativity by posting photos of their own interracial families.
Families from across America joined in to support the campaign.
“Always nice to see a representation of a family that looks somewhat like ours. We’ll forgive the dude. Thanks!” joked one family.
In addition to these statements across social media, Old Navy also recieved support from the adult models who are featured in the now-controversial ad.
“In light of the controversy around my pretend family… I am proud to be representing interracial love, multiculturalism, and most importantly, a mentality that supports opportunity for all ethnicities,” wrote Grace Mahary, one of the models in the campaign.
Clay Pollini, who posed as Mahary’s significant other, also took to Instagram to voice his support.
“I’m extremely proud to have taken part in a campaign that not only celebrates our nation’s diversity, but also unites families with multicultural backgrounds and promotes love of all of kinds,” Pollini wrote.
As for Old Navy, the company is standing by their decision and continues to receive support from families across the country.
