The clothing retailer H&M apologized on Monday for an image appearing in its online store that showed a black child model wearing a hooded sweatshirt that said “coolest monkey in the jungle.”... The image was widely criticized online for its reference to a monkey, an animal that has long featured in racial and ethnic slurs. The Weeknd, a Canadian pop star of Ethiopian descent, was one of those who criticized the clothing giant, writing on Twitter that he would decline to work with the company in the future.

...In a statement, H&M said it agreed with those who were “upset about the image." “We are deeply sorry that the picture was taken, and we also regret the actual print,” the company said in a statement. “Therefore, we have not only removed the image from our channels, but also the garment from our product offering globally...It is obvious that our routines have not been followed properly. This is without any doubt...We will thoroughly investigate why this happened to prevent this type of mistake from happening again.” [also refers to Dove, Nivea, PepsiCo, Unilever]