Recently, Old Navy published an ad on Twitter announcing a 30% off sale for families who need new clothes for spring and summer (which is basically every family ever). Sadly, the ad was met with some backlash, as many (racist) people came out of the woodwork to express their rage that the ad featured an interracial family.
Many people accused Old Navy of having an “anti-white agenda” and vowed to boycott the store–which is obviously completely absurd, especially considering it’s 2016. According to Scary Mommy, one Twitter user wrote: “This miscegenation junk is rammed down our throats from every direction.”
Instead of focusing on the hate, however, here are some of my favorite responses from Twitter users who posted photos of their own interracial families:
.@OldNavy Props on this ad! My family and I appreciate it. #RepresentationMatters pic.twitter.com/ZXQ8YbT0QS
— Austin Null (@thenivenulls) May 2, 2016
@OldNavy our interracial fam loves your advertisement! #proudfamily #lovewins #myfamilydoesntneedyourapproval ✌🏻❤️ pic.twitter.com/uT2fQTsLhQ — Maggie Moller (@MaggieMoller) May 2, 2016
S/O to @OldNavy for not caring about the haters and proudly showing love! Thanks for the idea @kharyp pic.twitter.com/bdhby2bd3V
— Keivon Liburd (@KeivonLiburd) May 2, 2016
.@OldNavy To make bigots go full meltdown, I propose an interracial gay couple with kids for your next ad. #oldnavy pic.twitter.com/b4yWQSgcdC — David and Josh (@RockandLedge) May 2, 2016
Thank you for the lovely family photos, @kharyp @OldNavy! This is my parents ca. 1969 #LoveWins #loveseesnocolor. pic.twitter.com/UHOm7o2vUz
— Lanai (@WaterNai) May 2, 2016
Of course, it’s still hard for me to believe there are so many people who perpetuate racist ideas, especially since I grew up in the New York City area–where interracial relationships (both romantic and platonic) have been the norm for a while. As we know, love comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, genders, sexual orientations, and places. This means there is no right way for a family to look–and it’s about time we started celebrating that.
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