Sainsbury’s to change name of children’s trousers linked to racist slur

An advert for a pair of school trousers has been deleted by Argos after social media users complained the name of the product was linked to a slur used by racists.

The two-pack of “grey reinforced knee grow hem woven trousers” for seven-year-olds has connotations to a slur frequently used by racists, according to X user Esheru Kwaku.

In his post, directed at Argos and Sainsbury’s, which acquired the company in 2016, Kwaku wrote: “Hi @sainsburys @Argos_Online I know you’re the same company, are you aware that the item name below is freely used by racists to by pass n-word filters?

“May I suggest renaming the item. Also maybe a few black faces in the decision making process, to avoid this in the future.”

A spokesperson for Tu, the own-brand clothing label from Sainsbury’s, apologised and confirmed to Yahoo News UK that the product will be renamed following the criticism.

They said: “We’re truly sorry for the upset this has caused. We have listened to the concerns which have been shared and are urgently updating the product labelling."

A parent who discovered the product emailed Sainsbury’s about the product on Wednesday. The parent, who wants to be anonymous, in fear of racist backlash, shared the email she sent to Sainsbury's. She told Yahoo News it was “triggering” to see the slur while shopping.

She said: “I'm just there on the website looking for school trousers for my child and having a perfectly normal day, a perfectly normal time for school trousers, and it's just like a slap in the face, quite frankly.”

She added: "As soon as I see that sort of thing, it reminds me of the brutality of my ancestors that have brought me here today. That sounds a bit OTT, but it's not."

Kwaku, a political commentator, told Yahoo News: "The first thing I thought was, my God, how could they have missed this?"

He said that some people would need a second or third look to notice the phonetic spelling of the n-word in that title, especially if they're not on social media. "You see all the small intricacies, the code words people use to describe black people. For example, this knee grow, or DEI hire, is another word for the n-word, so they use these euphemisms to bypass filters on X."

The term “knee grow” has been used as a slur against black people previously. In 2018 an Ohio youth basketball team was removed from their league after wearing jerseys with the term written on them. The coach of the team later apologised.

The phonetic term has, over time, became a slur that has been condemned. But the use of “knee grow” represents a deliberate effort to avoid accusations of racism.

There is no suggestion that Sainsbury’s deliberately chose this term out of malice. But social media platforms, online forums and comment sections are just some of the places where the term is used in an attempt to bypass any rules about hateful speech.