Oh Uh-Uh: Ralph Lauren steals from a Black Fraternity

Twitter/Complex

It is literally mere days into the 3rd decade of the 21st century, and here we are, dealing with the foolery of folks who clearly don't have enough diversity on staff.

Ralph Lauren's latest pair of chinos were for sale for 299.99€ on Ralph Lauren’s French website, which is about $334, and clearly features the Greek letters Phi Beta Sigma.

News site, Watch The Yard, which features news about historically black colleges and universities specifically Black Greek life, was the first to sound off about these pants, which featured the letters of the black Greek organization Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.

Soon, a Change.org petition was created on behalf of Phi Beta Sigma, an organization that was founded at Howard University in 1914. This organization, that recently celebrated its 106-year anniversary, quickly followed suit, calling out for Ralph Lauren Corp. for the pants and demanding they remove the chinos from its global websites, saying:

"We are demanding that Ralph Lauren do the right thing and RECALL, DESTROY, & PUBLICLY APOLOGIZE for trying to capitalize off of Black Culture! We don’t know WHO thought that this was a good idea; but they need to fix it quick!"

Ralph Lauren has since removed these pants from its website. In a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle, the company noted it has also reached out to officials of Phi Beta Sigma, saying:

"As an American brand with more than 50 years of heritage, Ralph Lauren is inspired by many facets of American culture. As part of this, we are firmly committed to respectful and appropriate use of all cultural icons and insignias."

Another example of why inclusion literally saves brands and businesses from getting called out.