To The Good People at Icebreaker

Icebreaker a New Zealand based manufacturer of merino wool clothing thought that the accompanying photo was a clever ad campaign. Furthermore they placed the photo within their employment ad on Craigslist. Clearly no one at Icebreaker headquarters had an inclination that this photo could be interpreted in a number of unflattering ways. Suffice to say that we here at IvyHorsemen felt compelled to contact the good people at Icebreaker and bring to their attention the ridiculousness of the photograph in question. Below is our pithy missive. We will continue to keep our readers abreast of any further communication between IVH and Icebreaker. Although a dialogue seems unlikely at this point. At the time of this posting the offending ad is still up on Craigslist.


Dear Icebreaker,

Before your next ad campaign when you decide to use a black person or any minority in an ad, and you believe you have come up with a clever idea we suggest you consult them prior to going live with said advertisement. Because surely as you bounced this idea around the editorial table I cannot imagine that there was one person of color in the room and if they are I would like to speak to them and find out what they were thinking as they happily signed off on this offensive ad. It's right in line with the portrayal of Lebron James as King Kong in the pages of Vogue. Then again exoticism and what not is always a tool used to make people of color look less dignified in fashion and culture. Again next time you find it necessary to use imagery of black folks have a conversation with some of them just to see where they stand on these matters.

Yours Truly,

The Gentlemen of IVH