--- title: Forever 21 Slammed for White Model in Black Panther Sweater description: Forever 21 is being called out for using a white model to advertise a "Wakanda Forever" sweater inspired by the movie Black Panther. canonical: https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-19T22:07:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:56:33.067Z og:title: Forever 21 Slammed for White Model in 'Black Panther' Sweater og:description: The Internet had lots to say about this move og:url: https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e35fdb199272d5e/698941ee97cdff3f5a6b705e/FOREVER-21-WAKANDA-SWEATER-WHITE-MODEL.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UK - Brands - Sign for clothes shop Forever 21 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Forever 21 Slammed for White Model in 'Black Panther' Sweater twitter:description: The Internet had lots to say about this move twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e35fdb199272d5e/698941ee97cdff3f5a6b705e/FOREVER-21-WAKANDA-SWEATER-WHITE-MODEL.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Forever 21 Slammed for Advertising _Black Panther_\-Inspired 'Wakanda' Sweater Using a White Model  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 19, 2018 10:07 PM UTC  Sign for clothes shop Forever 21\. (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images) Sign for clothes shop Forever 21\. (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)Mike Kemp—Corbis via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 19, 2018 10:07 PM UTC Fast fashion behemoth [Forever 21](http://time.com/4975863/taco-bell-forever-21-clothes/) is being called out for advertising a holiday sweater inspired by the film [_Black Panther_](http://time.com/5133882/black-panther-review/) by using a white model. In the image, which was shared and then deleted on Forever 21’s Twitter account and on its website, a white male model with platinum blonde hair sported a purple, yellow and orange sweater with a design that featured the words “Wakanda Forever” and a black panther logo. [Wakanda](http://time.com/5168405/atlanta-airport-flights-to-wakanda/) is the fictional African nation in Marvel’s _Black Panther_. As might be expected, many were outraged by the use of a white model for a product that was seemingly inspired by a movie that not only celebrated the African experience but explicitly addressed [Western colonization](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/opinion/afrofuturism-behind-black-panther.html). The Internet sounded off about how they felt about the matter. > [](https://twitter.com/Lyracet90/status/1075094019322073089) > [](https://twitter.com/sanefacade/status/1075126955572375553) > [](https://twitter.com/WhoIsMarkPaul/status/1075138578643079168) > [](https://twitter.com/Iyeshalovette/status/1075137023332081665) In a statement to the [_Daily Dot_](https://www.dailydot.com/irl/wakanda-forever-21-ad-white-model/?fb=dd), Forever 21 addressed the incident: “Forever 21 takes concerns on our products and marketing extremely seriously. While we celebrate all superheroes with many different models of various ethnicities, we listened to the important feedback from our customers and removed the product photo in question from our website and social media accounts. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by the product photo.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/"},"headline":"Forever 21 Slammed for Advertising Black Panther-Inspired 'Wakanda' Sweater Using a White Model","datePublished":"2018-12-19T22:07:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:56:33.067Z","description":"The Internet had lots to say about this fashion faux pas","url":"https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/","keywords":["Newsfeed","fashion"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e35fdb199272d5e/698941ee97cdff3f5a6b705e/FOREVER-21-WAKANDA-SWEATER-WHITE-MODEL.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e35fdb199272d5e/698941ee97cdff3f5a6b705e/FOREVER-21-WAKANDA-SWEATER-WHITE-MODEL.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UK - Brands - Sign for clothes shop Forever 21","caption":"UK - Brands - Sign for clothes shop Forever 21","creditText":"Mike Kemp—Corbis via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5484725/forever-21-white-model-black-panther-wakanda-sweater/","name":"Forever 21 Slammed for Advertising Black Panther-Inspired 'Wakanda' Sweater Using a White Model"}}]}] ```