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Furniture brand apologizes for giving bins Arabic names
2-24-2021
LONDON: A Canadian furniture brand has apologized after coming under fire for giving bins Arabic names.
Structube, which frequently gives human names to its products, released the bins for sale on its website under the names Walid and Wassim.
After facing criticism for doing so, it removed the items from its online store and issued an apology.
“It has been rightly brought to our attention that naming garbage bins after anyone’s name can be offensive, particularly if the name is suggestive of any ethnic, religious or other minority group,” it said, adding that the names had been chosen at random and with no “ill-intent.”
That did not stop some people calling for a boycott of the company, founded in Montreal in 1974, with one person suggesting online that the bins be renamed after senior Structube executives.
Another person said: “People are not stupid enough to believe your choice of Middle Eastern names for garbage bins was accidental, unintentional.”
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