Mango Sells "Slave Style" Jewelry In France

The clothing chain blamed the gaffe on a translation error.

1. Outrage emerged in France over the weekend when shoppers discovered jewelry labeled “style esclave” (which translates to “slave style”) on Mango’s website.

A petition posted to Change.org demanded that Mango remove the jewelry line and issue a public apology. As of Monday morning the petition had accrued 5,100 signatures and counting.

3. Mango apologized on Twitter.

MANGO @Mango

@deejaydie94Nous regrettons l'erreur de traduction. Les services correspondants sont prévenus et effectueront la correction immédiatement.

9:28 AM - 4 Mar 13

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The tweet says that Mango regrets the “translation error” and that a correction to the online copy will be made immediately. The word “esclava” in Spanish can translate to “bracelet” or “chain,” in addition to “slave.” Mango is a Spanish retailer.

5. The word “slave” did not appear on the U.S. site as of Monday morning.

6. It’s also been removed from the French site.

7. But #BoycottonsMango (translation: boycott Mango) is still trending on Twitter.

Boy From Paris @shavesp Follow

A mon epoque Twitter se mobilisait vite contre ces conneries alors #BoycottonsMango car on rit pas avec l'esclavage mamzellemag.com/index.php?opti…

10:49 AM - 4 Mar 13

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#Team243 @LaTeam243 Follow

#BoycottonsMango

12:23 PM - 4 Mar 13

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LA Mona' Béa @BeyWee Follow

#BoycottonsMango pour manque de respect envers nos martyrs! @LaTeamAfrique

5:17 PM - 4 Mar 13

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#TeamAfrique © @LaTeamAfrique Follow

#Mango parle d'erreur de traduction. Ici la preuve que c'faux. Et le seum des internautes avec le HT #BoycottonsMango TeamAfrique.unblog.fr/?p=818

4:42 PM - 4 Mar 13

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Alana Parizian @Alanakobitch Follow

#BoycottonsMango

4:41 PM - 4 Mar 13

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Mike @Miky_Rob Follow

Boycott Mango ... 20minutes.fr/web/1111611-bi… .... #FuckRacism #BoycottMango

10:39 AM - 4 Mar 13

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The outrage hasn’t picked up too much in the states yet, though it’s only Monday so that could change.

Gugu Carter-Knowles @GugsM Follow

When we're ready, can we discuss the fact that Mango has released a range of necklaces called "slave style"? Thanks. ow.ly/i/1Ct4P

12:23 PM - 4 Mar 13

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Katya Yefimova @juniper_twigs Follow

Own up to marketing fail, Mango: Retailer says "slave fashion" was translation error aje.me/Y8PT7u via @AJEnglish

5:28 PM - 4 Mar 13

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Change.org @Change Follow

Retailer @Mango is facing criticism for "slave style" necklaces: stream.aljazeera.com/story/20130304… Petition: chn.ge/103DF7l #BijouxStyleEsclave

5:27 PM - 4 Mar 13

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