Sainsbury’s has apologised after a pair of trousers was advertised online using a “racist” term.
The company – which owns the clothing brand, TU – was criticised for listing a pair of school trousers as having a ‘knee grow hem’.
The phrase is allegedly used as a disguise for a racial slur.
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The two pairs of trousers in question are advertised as “Grey Skinny Reinforced Knee Grow Hem Trousers 2 Pack” and “Reinforced Knee Grow Hem Woven Trousers 2 Pack”.
Other school trousers by TU, had various other titles, including “Skinny Fit Grow Hem”, “Longer Leg Grow Hem” and “Generous Fit Woven Grow Hem”.
Sharing a picture of the trousers on X, and tagging Sainsbury’s, one person wrote: “Are you aware that the item name below is freely used by racists to bypass 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.”
The Tweet was viewed 230,000 times.
One viewer commented: “Omg that’s terrible. Who the hell came up with that?”
“What the actual hell,” said another user.
Someone else added: “I had to read this 3-4 times and thought what you on about, what’s the problem. Then i see it and now cant unsee it. WTAF!”
“What in fresh hell? I can hardly believe my eyes. Disgusting,” said another critic.
Another user commented: “Had to re-read this to see the offensive words. But bloody hell that’s bad!!!!”
“Bizarre,” someone else agreed.
A Tu spokesperson told Need To Know: “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.”
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