Sainsbury’s has apologised after a pair of children’s school trousers were advertised using a ‘racist’ term.
The supermarket giant, which owns the clothing brand Tu and catalogue retailer Argos, flogged the product as ‘grey reinforced knee grow hem’ trousers.
The phonetic term ‘kneegrow’ is an ‘alternative form’ of the N-word, according to Hate Base, a resource for online moderators.
Calling out the ad yesterday, X user Esteru Kwaku claimed the phrase is ‘freely used by racists to bypass N-word filters’.
‘May I suggest renaming the item. Also maybe a few Black faces in the decision-making process, to avoid this in the future,’ he said on X yesterday.
There is no suggestion Sainsbury’s intentionally chose the product wording out of malice.
X users didn’t know what to make of the product page. ‘I had to read this three to four times and thought what you on about, what’s the problem,’ said one.
‘Then I see it and now can’t unsee it. WTAF!’
Another added: ‘What the actual hell.’
The garment has since been removed from the Sainsbury’s and Argos web pages, with the supermarket saying the product is ‘unavailable’.
A Tu spokesperson said: ‘We’re truly sorry for the upset this has caused.
‘We have listened to the concerns which have been shared and are urgently updating the product labelling.’
Kwaku, a political commentator, said he noticed the choice of words while his friend was shopping for new trousers online.
‘You see all the small intricacies, the code words people use to describe Black people,’ he told Yahoo News.
‘For example, this knee grow, or DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] hire, is another word for the N-word, so they use these euphemisms to bypass filters on X.’
Grow hems are trousers made with extra length at the bottom which can be let down as the child grows, helping them survive a growth spurt (or two).
According to internet archives, Argos described the trousers as ‘fitted with an elasticated, adjustable waist for an ideal fit, they have grow hems and reinforced knees to help them last for longer’.
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