American Apparel has teamed up with Human Rights Campaign and The Ally Coalition for its Pride '16 Collection.
On its website it described the collection as "styles that stand for acceptance".
However some people are annoyed with the brand for using the term "ally" on its LGBTQ tote bag. The criticism began when American Apparel posted this picture on its Instagram account.
People described it as "horrible".
The identification term "ally" describes straight and cisgender people who support the LGBT social movement. They want to help the LGBT community achieve equality by fighting homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.
However there are straight people who are heavily involved in the movement but don't use this identification.
In the acronym LGBTQIA, "A" most commonly stands for "asexual", but also terms such as "aromantic" and "agender". It is less commonly used for "ally", as American Apparel has suggested on its tote bag.
Asexual describes someone who is not sexually attracted to anyone. Aromantic describes someone who is not romantically attracted to anyone. Agender describes someone doesn't identify as a man or a woman.
Reaction to the bag continued on Twitter. YouTuber Tyler Oakley has tweeted about it.
allies are appreciated... but a good ally doesn't erase members of the community they're trying to support. read: https://t.co/plUmbDI4M6
Some users discussed GLAAD's campaign #GotYourBack in comparison with the American Apparel tote bag. In 2015 the media monitoring organisation published a post to clarify that #GotYourBack does not exclude asexual, agender, or aromantic people.
.@americanapparel you have a typo! Ask @glaad and #GiveItBack
People used #GiveItBack to express their thoughts on the tote bag.
@americanapparel @funnyordie Stop publicizing #AsexualErasure and acting like you've done a good deed! #AceNotAlly #GiveItBack
Others were annoyed because they said Pride Month should not celebrate straight people who support the LGBT social movement.
@americanapparel Pride month is not for Allies. You will have no choice but to hear us. We are here #giveitback #acepride
3. So American Apparel has this tote bag ensloganed with the rainbow alphabet and they seem to think the "A" stands for "ally."
While some feel American Apparel's use of "ally" says a lot about how asexual people are perceived.
American Apparel making the A stand for Ally says everything about how invisible ace people are in our society.
.@americanapparel has misstepped once again... #GiveItBack https://t.co/tpmZGT1mRo
American Apparel tweeted this statement regarding the controversy.
#GiveItBack #WeGotYourBack
But this didn't do much to calm people down.
.@americanapparel so allies are still more important to queer communities than queer people? #GiveItBack
@americanapparel Focusing on allies actually make you bad allies. We know allies are important, but you're erasing identities! #GiveItBack
BuzzFeed News contacted American Apparel but the firm declined to comment further beyond the statement posted on Twitter.