Aug 25 (Reuters) – Backlash over a Halloween costume sold by Target spilled into the retailer’s shares on Tuesday, drawing fresh attention to a string of similar controversies that have plagued global brands over cultural missteps.
Here are some examples:
Brand Product or Fallout
marketing
campaign
Target Its “Kids’ Critics said it evoked
Glows Under Blackface and minstrel
Blacklight shows, prompting backlash
Circus Clown on social media. The
Halloween retailer apologized and
Costume,”led pulled the product from
some consumers stores.
to say it
resembled a
racist
caricature.
Starbucks A marketing The coffee chain’s South
campaign in Korean unit suffered what
early 2026 the company described as a
that appeared “very significant” decline
to reference in sales, prompting the
the brutal dismissal of the head of
military Starbucks Korea.
crackdown on
the
student-led
Gwangju
Uprising of
1980.
American Eagle Sydney Sweeney The campaign drew backlash
Has Great on social media over
Jeans’ ad perceived racial
campaign in undertones tied to genetic
2025 traits, though the company
later called it a success,
saying it had helped
expand its customer base.
Target The retailer’s Customer backlash prompted
2023 ‘Pride the retailer to remove
Collection’. some LGBTQ-themed
merchandise from stores,
with the company saying
the move was intended to
protect employee safety.
Anheuser-Busch Social media A conservative backlash
InBev’s Bud Light promotion with toppled Bud Light from its
transgender long-held perch as
influencer America’s best-selling
Dylan Mulvaney beer, handing the crown to
in 2023. Constellation Brands’
Modelo Especial.
Balenciaga Two separate A backlash over the
advertising campaign prompted
campaigns in apologies from the French
2022: fashion house’s creative
director and chief
executive officer.
Gucci A black Critics said the design
balaclava-styl evoked blackface imagery,
e “Blackface” prompting the company to
sweater with a withdraw the product and
mouth cut out apologise.
and trimmed in
red introduced
in early 2019.
H&M Advertisement The advertisement was
in 2018 that criticised as racist,
featured a drawing condemnation from
black child Canadian pop star The
modelling a Weeknd and basketball star
sweatshirt LeBron James. The fashion
with the group apologised and
slogan removed the product from
“Coolest all marketing materials.
Monkey in the
Jungle”.
Pepsi A commercial The ad sparked outrage
from 2017 from critics who said it
featuring trivialised U.S. rights
model Kendall protests and civil unrest.
Jenner shows The company scrapped the
the celebrity spot within 24 hours and
in a photo issued a public apology.
shoot when she
sees
protesters
marching.
Removing her
wig and
makeup, Jenner
joins the
crowd and
hands a
baseball
cap-wearing
police officer
a can of
Pepsi,
prompting him
to smile while
marchers cheer
and hug.
Unilever’s Dove A 2017 The incident quickly
advertisement spiraled into a
for Dove body public-relations crisis.
wash showed a Dove pulled the ad and
black woman issued an apology, but the
removing her backlash persisted online,
top to reveal with many social-media
a white woman. users urging a boycott of
The brand had the brand’s products.
previously
faced uproar
in 2011 over
an
advertisement
which showed
three women
side by side
in front of a
before-and-aft
er image of
cracked and
smooth skin,
with the woman
positioned on
the “before”
side being
black while
the “after”
woman was
white.
Zara Striped Outrage erupted over the
children’s top product’s resemblance to
decorated with the uniforms worn by
a large Jewish concentration camp
six-pointed inmates in Nazi Germany.
star The company removed the
introduced in item and issued an
2014. apology.
Pepsi’s Mountain Online Critics said the spot
Dew advertisement reinforced racial
in 2013 for stereotypes and
the beverage trivialized violence
developed by against women. The company
African-Americ later said it had removed
an hip-hop the ad from its online
artist Tyler channels.
the Creator
featured a
battered white
woman on
crutches
trying to pick
out her
assailant from
a police
lineup
featuring five
African-Americ
an men and a
goat.
(Reporting by Arpan Daniel Varghese, Neil J Kanatt and Koyena Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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