People are dragging Zara for a skirt featuring an alt-right hate meme
Spanish fashion retailer Zara is getting dragged on Twitter for selling a skirt featuring Pepe The Frog, an internet meme which has been adopted by neo-Nazis and serves as an icon of the white nationalist alt-right movement.
The denim skirt -- which features two distinctly Pepe-like appliqué designs -- has been pulled from the Zara website following the controversy. Pepe The Frog was created by cartoonist Matt Furie in 2005 as a chilled out, friendly frog who led a simple life in a comic book. But it was eventually appropriated by trolls and hate groups online and was officially declared a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League in September 2016. The skirt was first spotted by Twitter user Meagan who was later trolled with an avalanche of alt-right Pepe memes.
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It's not the first time a symbol on Zara clothing has caused controversy. In 2014 Zara pulled a kids' T-shirt that bore a strong resemblance to a Nazi camp uniform.
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Some have vowed to shop elsewhere following the latest incident.
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Some called for an out-and-out boycott for the retailer.
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Some, however, were more offended by the fact that Zara didn't choose a more up-to-date meme for its skirt.
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Zara did not immediately respond to Mashable's request for comment.
UPDATE: April 19, 2017, 10:47 p.m. BST Statement from Zara spokesperson
In a statement emailed to Mashable, a spokesperson for Zara contested any link to the meme and said the skirt was part of a limited collection created through a collaboration with artist Mario de Santiago, known online as Yimeisgreat. "Mario explores social interactions through his work and in his own words: "The idea came from a wall painting I drew with friends some years ago." There is absolutely no link to the suggested theme," the spokesperson said.
Topics Memes
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
