An advert for a pair of school trousers has been deleted by Argos after social media users complained the name of the product was linked to a slur used by racists.
The two-pack of “grey reinforced knee grow hem woven trousers” for seven-year-olds has connotations to a slur frequently used by racists, according to X user Esheru Kwaku.
In his post, directed at Argos and Sainsbury’s, which acquired the company in 2016, Kwaku wrote: “Hi @sainsburys @Argos_Online I know you’re the same company, are you aware that the item name below is freely used by racists to by pass n-word filters?
“May I suggest renaming the item. Also maybe a few black faces in the decision making process, to avoid this in the future.”
A spokesperson for Tu, the own-brand clothing label from Sainsbury’s, apologised and confirmed to Yahoo News UK that the product will be renamed following the criticism.
They said: “We’re truly sorry for the upset this has caused. We have listened to the concerns which have been shared and are urgently updating the product labelling."
I feel like an absolute idiot right now, but how/where is this used as a slur? EDIT: Goodness, no. Nvm, I found it.
If it makes you feel any better it took me waaaaay too long too.
I don’t understand why the word grow is even in there.
Reinforced knee, hem woven. What is the word grow adding to the description?
Do the trousers grow? Do they expand so children can grow into them?
I don’t get it
The hem at the end of the leg has extra length that can be let out as the child grows. When the child grows an inch, you can unstitch the hem to keep the ankles covered. It’s like cuffed pants except stitched.
So in other words, they just need to rearrange the adjectives: “gray, grow hem, reinforced knee trousers.”
Ah, that makes sense I guess. Ta!
deleted by creator
Apparently a grow hem is a hem that can be easily unpicked in order to lengthen the trousers. I did not know this existed either so TIL I guess.
I assume ‘grow hem’ means that the leg is cut longer that it needs to be but currently hemmed at a shorter length. So that as the kid grows you can let more fabric out and have trousers the right length still.
Nigel Farage is said to be trying to buy up the leftover stock.
I have to read an entire goddamn terms and conditions just to read the article? Yeah, no.
I’m so confused.
Is this article saying that ‘knee grow’ was already in circulation as a circumvention technique before these pants came out?
That’s what the guy flagging it up says and it makes sense - the racists will try all sorts of things to get around the filters.
I’m still not sure.
The quote is “Hi @sainsburys @Argos_Online know you’re the same company, are you aware that the item name below is freely used by racists to by pass n-word filters?”
Is it possible to tell from context whether the item name was adopted by racists after first seeing it, or whether that part of the item name was already in use? Because the wording itself doesn’t specify, it just states that it is used by racists.
Because if it was already in use, then yeah they could have caught that by having some knowledgeable staff.
Is it possible to tell from context whether the item name was adopted by racists after first seeing it, or whether that part of the item name was already in use?
I don’t know how long the trousers have been on sale but assuming this got flagged up quickly (the product makes sense as part of a “back to school” range that tends to launch round about the time everyone breaks up for summer) but the use of “knee grow” online dates back years.
