Search icon

Life

10th Feb 2017

Sportswear firm offers racist customers a refund… with a catch

Rory Cashin

When fitness-wear firm Nebbia posted a picture on their Facebook page earlier this week, the backlash took their CEO by shock.

The image was of four bodybuilders, one of whom was a black man, and customers commented on the FB post with some incredibly racist comments, including calling him “a murderer” and “an ape in sportswear”.

In response, CEO Martin Peck released a statement on the Slovakian’s company website declaring that while he knew it might be a financially risky thing to do, he would offer a full refund to all customers who took offense to the image.

All they had to do was email the account [email protected], which translates into I Am Racist.

Peck went on to say that he “doesn’t want people who are racists to wear the clothing. […] Racism has no place in sport or anywhere else.”

“Nebbia is a global brand which uses sportspeople of colour for marketing purposes. I thought that racism did not exist in a developed society like ours; unfortunately, we see in hundreds of reactions that it’s deeply rooted in people.”

Peck then went on to thank his customers who continue to buy the brand out of an act of solidarity.

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge