French fashion label Chanel has been accused of appropriating Indigenous Australian culture by selling a £1,130 boomerang.
The item — part of the Chanel spring-summer 2017 collection and priced at $1,325 for US buyers — sparked a heated debate on social media.
Cultural appropriation hits a new low – I sincerely hope that @CHANEL is donating all the profits to underprivileged aboriginal communities pic.twitter.com/Bkf93XaYIi
— LJ (@BI0MECHANICAL) May 15, 2017
The firm said it “deeply regrets that some may have felt offended.”
American beauty vlogger and make-up artist Jeffree Star drew widespread attention to the boomerang, which is made of wood and resin, when he posted about it on social media on Monday.
https://twitter.com/JeffreeStar/status/864230022805995520
But thousands of comments were posted in response — many of them negative.
Nayuka Gorrie, an activist, wrote on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NayukaGorrie/status/863968816392318976
https://twitter.com/NayukaGorrie/status/863972903552929792
Nathan Sentance, an Indigenous project officer at the Australian Museum, told The Guardian in Australia that at A$1,930, the boomerang cost almost 10% of the average annual income of Indigenous Australians.
And Kaylah Truth, a Brisbane rapper who describes herself as a Gurang / Ngugi woman wrote on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/kaylahtruth/status/864267970972860416
However, some suggested that the controversy was ill-founded.
https://twitter.com/stephen_wheelz/status/864468245675487232
https://twitter.com/TheoriginalOG1/status/864478299929575424
Some social media posts pointed out that other retail outlets sell boomerangs as toys — including Australian tourist shops.
In a statement, Chanel told CNN: “Chanel is extremely committed to respecting all cultures, and deeply regrets that some may have felt offended.
“The inspiration was taken from leisure activities from other parts of the world, and it was not our intention to disrespect the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and their significance to the boomerang as a cultural object. As such, this object was included into a sportswear range.”
The statement added that “sportswear has always been part of Chanel’s identity” and “the spring-summer 17 collection boomerang is part of this long-standing approach”
The collection also includes other expensive sporting items, including tennis rackets, tennis balls, and beach rackets and balls.
The boomerang remained available for purchase on the Chanel website on Tuesday.
