[ad_1]
After a 200 second review, employees and customers talk about discrimination
From: Lindah C Mohlin, Mattias Sandberg, Robert Aschberg
Published:
Updated:
Clothing giant H&M’s 200-second review has drawn strong reactions.
Now many customers and employees testify about their experiences of racism and discrimination at the billion dollar company.
– The culture in the store makes me very sad, very angry, precisely because I myself have a foreign origin. I think of my family. I don’t want to be treated like that when they enter an HM store, says a person who has been working for several years.
▪ Check out the show on the TV player below!
After a 200-second review of the billion-dollar company H&M, where employees and a hidden camera revealed racism and discrimination in stores, even more testimonials have come in.
It is both customers and employees who have heard from them and have shared what they have experienced.
Several employees have explained how they are encouraged to follow suit and be tougher on customers when it comes to returns and complaints, often on ethnic grounds.
– It is always only people with foreign credentials who become suspicious, says an H&M employee to Aftonbladet.
“We are very sorry”
A person who has worked for the company for a long time says:
– A foreign woman entered with a slightly more expensive garment that she had bought a few days before, but that did not fit her. She was nice and said she forgot the receipt at home. The woman at the box flatly denied it. It was too expensive a garment. The woman was very sad and left. She also showed the bank statement but was treated very badly.
Employees tell about a corporate culture found in several different stores across the country, where it is often the behaviors of those in charge that become the norm for how employees treat customers.
And that some managers have a “racist jargon”:
– You’ve seen managers treat customers from different backgrounds when they’ve been at the checkout themselves. What I have noticed is that they have more respect for customers who are like them. They have a stricter attitude towards someone who is not like them, says an employee.
– It’s probably more the case that you look at the managers and stick to it. All returns are verified and you can be questioned.
An employee of several years says:
– Both managers and staff can have racist jargon. Can be anything. It is so contrary to H&M values to let this continue. It remains an international company. We hear a lot of racist comments in the staff room and in the warehouse as well.
Aftonbladet’s 200 Seconds Did A Test – See How It Was On The Show.
Sent in her Swedish husband
In a 200-second program, a hidden camera reveals how different customers are treated when they try to exchange an item without a receipt.
A test person, of foreign origin, cannot exchange the product in one of every three stores. Swedish-born 200-second reporters, on the other hand, can trade the same item, in the same stores.
Several of H & M’s customers have heard from us and told us how they have experienced the same.
-
A client writes:
“They refuse to allow me to resize and respond with the store manager deciding that nothing can be done without a receipt.” -
Another customer says that she was refused to exchange an item in a store, so she sent her husband, who is Swedish:
“And it went smoothly. It wasn’t the same girl in the box but it still made me very sad. “ -
A third client talks about times when he tried to exchange goods in Stockholm:
“It is true what is written in the article on racism in H&M. I have tried to change clothes without a receipt but where patches have remained. Then I went into H&M Drottninggatan for the first time, where they refused to change clothes, and when I told them that things were going well in other H&M stores, they said they had stopped. “
When the customer went to another store, he had to change.
Several customers have also heard from them and tell how suspicious they feel in stores.
Several employees testify about how foreign nationals are treated differently.
-
A mother says:
– I was at H&M with my two young children and we noticed that one of the staff was following us. My daughter asked, “Mom, why are you following us?” It was very uncomfortable. I felt like I shouldn’t be there because of the color of my skin. I felt very sad and angry. I still have that feeling when I walk into other stores and look around and wonder if I’m welcome. -
Another client writes:
“I have been persecuted several times by the staff.” -
Another client writes:
This being chased in stores no matter how you dress or how well you behave is “everyday food.”
Photo: Jonas Ekströmer / TT
H&M CEO Helena Helmersson.
For several weeks, 200 Seconds have been looking for H&M officials for an interview, but they have refused to stand up and watch the show.
Duck interview
The clothing giant’s CEO, Helena Helmersson, has been repeatedly asked about an interview, but has referred to the company’s written comment in which they distance themselves from all racism.
On their official Facebook page, H&M has received harsh criticism, in part because they did not want to be interviewed.
After 200 seconds of posting the show, H&M has written that they will initiate a review:
“Of course, we will investigate what happened and encourage our employees to continue to report all forms of discrimination, racism and intolerance, regardless of whether it occurs inside or outside our company,” the company wrote on its Facebook page.
Opens for interview
On Wednesday, Aftonbladet again applied to H&M and asked for an interview, and reported that there are now about 60 testimonies of racism and discrimination.
For the first time since the first interview request was made in mid-October, H&M opened up for an interview.
“We are investigating what opportunities there are to do an interview, but as before in such a case it would be necessary to take part of the material in advance”, the communications department wrote in an email Wednesday afternoon.
Aftonbladet responded with the type of allegations in question and asked for comment Wednesday night, also offering the company an opportunity to comment on the allegations in a subsequent interview.
On Wednesday night, H&M had not responded.
200 seconds is Aftonbladet and Viafree’s TV show for quick reviews, perfect for watching on your mobile phone.
Robert Aschberg, Lindah C Mohlin and Mattias Sandberg he sees abuse of power, contemporary phenomena and individual cases that arouse emotions.
HOW TO GIVE 200 SECONDS
Don’t miss the latest 200 second episode!
Published:
