British fashion retailer ASOS is getting slammed for selling this choker
British fashion retailer ASOS has drawn fire for selling a belt-like choker that customers say glamorizes suicide.
The red latex necklace, which looks like a belt buckled around the neck when worn, appears to have disappeared from the retailer’s website. It was selling for $72, according to The Daily Mail.
The necklace came from a brand named Hanger.
It churned up fierce protests on social media.
“So disgusted with @ASOS - it seems that in a time when death by suicide is becoming more common they attempt to make suicide fashionable,” wrote one person.
@ASOS @ASOS_HeretoHelp first thought, hideous item. Then I noticed brand name on T-shirt. Now it's also an insensitive and vile item. I'm not usually easily offended but this is awful. pic.twitter.com/rvBJ1aQQ5C
— Joanne (@JoLynseyB) January 16, 2018
@ASOS @ASOS_Us Absolutely unacceptable to sell belt necklaces named ‘hanger latex’ with a model wearing a shirt that reads ‘hanger;’ suicide is a harrowing epidemic that plagues your buyer demographic. How careless and harmful to glorify this as a fashion accessory, remove it. pic.twitter.com/2xitKcchre
— kylie souder (@kyliesouder) January 15, 2018
Shocked that @ASOS are selling a line of clothing called HANGER where some of the models have belts around their necks! Seems really, really inappropriate.
— Shelley Retallick (@ShellRetallick) January 17, 2018
According to the Scottish Daily Record, the blowback began Tuesday after the item was shared by a parent on Mumsnet, a popular British parenting website.
“I do not get offended easily, at all,” the mom wrote. “I thought this was hideous, but together with the pose and brand name, isn’t it vile and insensitive?
“I’ve tweeted ASOS with no response..... am I over reacting?”
She was not overreacting, according to most of the other parents who shared her disgust.
“Genuinely shocked that anyone thought that was okay!”
“That is shocking. Suicide imagery being used to sell a crappy belt?”
“I’m usually not much of a pearl clutcher but that’s really horrible.”
“Total fail at an edgy look and I dont think Asos is the place for it. Enough suicide material around the internet for the teens as is.”
“Grim.”
A few people commented that people shouldn’t get so upset over a piece of jewelry.
“It’s the 90s coming back - I wore a dog collar back in the day (from pets at home, nothing as chic as this!) don’t get your knickers in a twist. It’s just fashion, innit,” one person wrote.
To the people who considered it no big deal, one commenter wrote: “Highly offensive and to those asking to whom it would be offensive, perhaps my friend whose daughter hung her self with a belt might be slightly upset.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 4:01 PM with the headline "British fashion retailer ASOS is getting slammed for selling this choker."