Zara Forced To Pull This Skirt From Their Stores Following Controversy

Zara is facing fresh backlash over one of its denim skirts with embroidered green frogs wearing sunglasses on the front.

The Spanish retailer received complaints from customers saying that the frogs resemble ‘Pepe the Frog’, a popular meme that has recently become a symbol of alt-right, nazism, and racism. The image was added to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) hate-symbol database last September.

However, Mario de Santiago, who designed the skirt, denies these claims, saying, “The idea came from a wall painting I drew with friends four years ago. There is absolutely no link to the suggested theme.”

People have been reacting to the skirt online, and while many are angered that the skirt made it into stores at all, others don’t see what the big deal is.

One person tweeted, “Seriously? Pepe the Frog? Alt Right? That’s who your target customers are? Me and my wallet will be shopping elsewhere.”

While another said, “no offense but the zara skirt is not pepe it’s clearly old man jenkins.” (Old Man Jenkins is a character from Spongebob Squarepants…)

@ZARA Seriously? Pepe the Frog? Alt Right? That's who your target customers are? Me and my wallet will be shopping elsewhere.

— Gina (@Gina02301885) April 19, 2017

https://twitter.com/ccarella/status/854393236089131008

https://twitter.com/yarnessa/status/854689626883334144

Whether it was Pepe the Frog or not, nobody will be wearing this denim skirt again as Zara have pulled it from all of their stores.

It’s best to be safe than sorry.