Clothing brand Jacamo issue an apology after being called out for “homophobic” online campaign
By Josh Lee
Online menswear retailer have apologised after a social media campaign, #RealManRunway, backfired over the weekend.
The campaign, set up to find someone to be the face of their Autumn/Winter range, Jacamo’s new campaign called “#RealManRunway” launched with the aim to find some one to be the face of their Autumn/Winter range. The tweet contrasts a male model with a more “average” man, with the caption, “Real men have balls, not man bags”
However it seemed to have backfired. Many people took to Twitter to vent their anger, with some describing the tweet as “homophobic” and promoting “toxic masculinity”. One tweeter accused them of reinforcing “old-fashioned stereotypes,” while another described the campaign as “homophobic”. Attitude Award winner Omar Sharif Jr. described the campaign as a “fail.”
Another pointed out that the idea that real men have balls excludes trans men.
Real men have balls, not man bags ⚽️
We’ve launched #RealManRunway to find the face for AW17. Tweet to enter! https://t.co/AWC0rfiF77 pic.twitter.com/QFNPFWh8d6
— Jacamo (@Jacamo) October 29, 2016
#Fail . Do better @Jacamo – this is offensive. https://t.co/k2B86cyh6u
— Omar Sharif Jr. (@OmarSharifJr) October 30, 2016
@Jacamo ……or men who dont have balls because they're trans? Thanks from us trans gay dudes 😒
— I'm moving my acct (@ftmlizard) October 30, 2016
@Jacamo Your PR team are almost as outdated as your chinos.
— James Dylan Edge (@JDEdge) October 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/JoeyKnock/status/792799694904815617
. @Jacamo disgusted to think that a company that is all about equality with bigger sizes would be so homophobic.
— Georgie Aldous (@georgiealdous) October 30, 2016
@Jacamo ……or men who dont have balls because they're trans? Thanks from us trans gay dudes 😒
— I'm moving my acct (@ftmlizard) October 30, 2016
.@Jacamo BUT YOU SELL MAN BAGS! pic.twitter.com/7GnMMbYsrX
— Matt (@mattjholding) October 30, 2016
@Jacamo you go ahead and reinforce old-fashioned stereotypes. We’ll go ahead and buy clothes from companies with a sense of class.
— Andrew (@goodasyou1980) October 29, 2016
Since the backlash, the company has issued an apology. Speaking to The Gay UK, Ed Watson of Jacamo said: “Here at Jacamo championing male body and fashion diversity is really close to our hearts.
“We want to encourage all guys to feel confident – regardless of age, size, shape, colour or sexual orientation and that’s why we launched our Real Man Runway competition, to make more men feel represented on the high street and to celebrate the diversity of the UK’s men. Encouragingly we have loads of entries which are testament to this aim.
“Our social tweets were supposed to be a fun way of illustrating that there is more than one type of man something that the Real Man Runway competition is trying to do.
“We are mortified that this caused any offence and of course apologise.”