Pop-up mall Boxpark has apologised after publishing all-white advertisements for their new shopping mall in Croydon.
The company have issued an apology on Twitter following complaints about promotions containing around 100 white people for a planned development in Croydon, an area which is roughly 45 per cent non-white.
The apology is written over an image of ethnically diverse employees standing in front of one of Boxpark’s distinctive shipping containers.
At the time of writing the Tweet had received one like, from Canoe Inc who are Boxpark’s PR company.
Sorry. We got it wrong. Boxpark is proud to be a racially diverse and inclusive company Pt1/3 pic.twitter.com/8nYqhbADZ6
— BOXPARK (@boxpark) November 10, 2015
An all-white artist’s impression of the new project was distributed on their website and on billboards around East Croydon station. It shows a busy eating area where people are enjoying coffee and beers. The picture spread on social media over the weekend as locals complained it was whitewashing the reality of Croydon’s ethnic diversity.
Only the white creative class can use the new Croydon Boxpark (according to their render anyway) — Oli Mould (@olimould) November 9, 2015
AngieLiveOnline, a presenter on Shoreditch Radio, tweeted: “@boxpark if you’re such a diverse employer, how could you get it so wrong?”
The images in the promotional brochure have since been replaced with a more ethnically diverse clientele.
Matthew McMillan, Development Director for Boxpark, told EastLondonLines it was a “genuine mistake.”
“Hands up. It was our fault. As soon as we realised the mistake we moved to change it, and actually the images have already been changed for 6 weeks”, he said.
“Boxpark is proud to be a racially diverse and inclusive company. Our initial CGIs of our new Boxpark Croydon scheme did not reflect this and we are getting them changed.”