An image circulating on social media allegedly shows an H&M hoodie saying “Koolest Kid in the Klan”. However, this photo has been digitally altered to include the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) reference.
Facebook posts with this claim can be seen here, here and here.
The image is a doctored screen from clothing retailer H & M’s website, which shows a boy in a white sweatshirt with the words ‘Koolest Kid in the Klan’ and has been circulating in meme pages since at least 2018 (here, here).
While some users acknowledge that the image has been doctored, it appears that the content interprets the content as authentic, with remarks such as: ‘I’m over sending shots for years’ (here),’ And they’re back to it, someone should suspend their entire marketing team ”(here) and“ But you are still going to shop at H&M. They respect our people ”(here).
A reverse search on the photo (here) brought up images of the same kid on other clothing and e-commerce sites wearing the same sweater, but with different designs (here).
Reuters found no evidence that the fashion group had ever traded this product, which would probably have received press coverage. For example, as reported by Reuters here and other stores (here, here), one of their ads in January 2018 was widely criticized for being racist. The ad features a black kid modeling a sweater with the slogan ‘coolest monkey in the jungle’. At the time, H&M apologized and said it had removed it from all its marketing.
“This is a fake photo,” a H&M spokesman told Reuters. “We were upset and sad to see it because it conflicts with everything we stand for.”
VERDICT
Alter. The sweatshirt in this image was doctored to include a reference to the KKK.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.