Zara has pulled a denim skirt from sale in the US after a Twitter storm erupted over the use of a frog as part of the design.
It began when a woman from Chicago tweeted a screenshot of the skirt, which she said looked like Pepe - the frog meme that has been associated with the alt-right, nazism, and racism.
Zara is really out there trying to sell a P*pe the frog skirt, apparently unaware (?) of its current implications https://t.co/gQ3bimsdg2
This is bad
The skirt, Zara confirmed to BuzzFeed News, has been pulled from sale in the US.
i'm really proud that my dumb lil tweets about the bad pepe skirt got the product pulled from zara, it has no place in our closets/world
However, the skirt, which Zara said had "absolutely no link" with Pepe the frog, remains on sale in other markets, including Spain and Denmark.
A spokesperson said the skirt was part of a limited edition collection created in collaboration with artists, in this instance with a designed called Mario de Santiago, who came up with the illustration from a painting he drew with friends "some years ago."
Nonetheless, some people have been roasting the brand for the design.
@ZARA Seriously? Pepe the Frog? Alt Right? That's who your target customers are? Me and my wallet will be shopping elsewhere.
hmm Pepe on a Zara skirt. wtf?
Zara have put Pepe the frog on a denim skirt hahahahahaha
Just googled "Zara Pepe the Frog skirt", because this website and 2017 are bad
Zara receiving huge backlash over a skirt featuring Pepe the frog hahahaha I don't know whether to laugh or cry
Not everybody thinks the design looks like Pepe.
People going on about some Zara skirt using a controversial frog pic... bruv it's obviously old man Jenkins from Sp… https://t.co/5yusagMKqR
Some people think it looks like Old Man Jenkins, a character from the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants.
@ZARA you sure you weren't trying to put Old Man Jenkins on your clothing?
looks more like old man jenkins to me ⚡️ “Zara puts controversial symbol on skirt” https://t.co/t2ngalWYeK
This is not the first time people have interpreted a Zara design as having connotations with negative symbols.
The brand has found itself in hot water on two other occasions. In 2014, the company apologised for a teeshirt design that some consumers said looked similar to the uniform Jews were forced to wear during the holocaust.
Anyone who's surprised about Zara's Pepe the frog skirt probably doesn't remember this. I do.
@ZARA why do you put swastikas on your purses and pepe the frog on skirts? Are you pro-NAZI, or just ignorant? You keep doing this shit. NO!
And In 2007 it also pulled a handbag with a symbol on it that one shopper said was similar to a swastika. The retailer said it would never have stocked the bag, from an external supplier, had it spotted that part of the design.