What can be said of such a company?
"Banana Republic" is a term I've known for years, but only with a recent search was I made aware that a company actually used the term in what I hope is ignorance to it's true meaning-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic
http://bananarepublic.gap.com/
And for the record, the political term "Banana Republic" predates it's use by the company in question.
At least Siemens tried to do damage control-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2233890.stm
However, in light of their past, this makes the entire thing even worse, really-
"Slave Labor
The major private firm that used slave labor at Ravensbrück was the Siemens Electric Company, today the second largest electric company in the world. In a separate camp adjoining the main one, Siemens “employed” the women to make electrical components for V-1 and V-2 rockets.
Ravensbrück was one of the Nazi's main depositories for confiscated clothing and furs, and had an SS-owned factory for remodeling leather and textiles, a subsidiary of Dachau Enterprises, There was also a tailor shop that made the prisoners' striped uniforms and uniforms for the SS, and fur coats for the Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht, In another shop the prisoners wove carpets from reeds. Women also did outside work, such as construction of buildings and roads. They were used like animals, with twelve to fourteen of them pulling a huge roller to pave the streets,
Some of the women worked in camp administration and some worked outside the camp, for example, in the nearby town of Fürstenberg. Those too old or disabled to perform other duties knitted for the army or cleaned the barracks and latrines, The women usually worked for twelve hours a day, under conditions of extreme exploitation."
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Ravensbruck.html
To be fair, Siemens is currently part of a group of Corporations that are trying to make up for what occurred in the past, though they should have known better than to use the term "Zyklon" for a gas stove.
Personally, I would think that if I ran a company, I wouldn't want it to share a name with such a term.
What do you think-genuine ignorance, or a malicious joke on the part of Banana Republic?
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February 4th, 2010 at 5:18 am
I think insensitive. They originally marketed clothing that was safari inspired, a lot of khaki and safari jackets.
February 4th, 2010 at 5:18 am
Neither ignorance nor a joke. The use of "Bannana Republic" by the clothing store was to accent the original style of stores and its products. 30 years ago america was still supporting bannana republic dictators to provide stability and fend off communism in central america. So, while a prejorative term, it wasn’t intended to be degrading to the people of, let’s say, Nicaragua or Panama.
The clothing they sold at the time was safari style and traveler surplus stuff- much different than the style in their stores today. Which, from a marketing perspective, made perfect sense and gave americans that superiority feeling as they saw their social stature more on par with the corrupt aristocracy of these countries, or perhaps more appropriately the rich ex-pats that could travel through them, rather than being associated with the populous.
So, there was a certain ‘joke’ to the use of the term, but I dont’ see it as malicious. Perhaps just ‘insensitive’. - I do understand how it could be seen that way from the perspective of today’s moral zeitgeist.
The success of the chain has also now placed the term "banana republic" back into our lexicon as a brand name, rather than just a prejorative term- so they can stick with it.
I wonder what ever happened to Sambo’s restaurant chain. Anybody remember "little black Sambo?"