JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville hair salon owner's outrage over questionable packaging for a children's hair extension line has gotten results after she brought her concerns to News4Jax.
The Zury Kids hair extension line uses cartoon animals -- including a monkey -- to market some of its products to African American children.
Anita Spencer, who owns Bamboo Hair Studio on East 8th Street in Jacksonville, sent an email to News4Jax with photos of the products, which she spotted while shopping in a beauty supply store.
She said in the email, "I walked up on a display full of packages of hair extensions for small kids... and what do I see? A monkey on the package."
The hair features a photo of a young black girl wearing the extensions, which are pinned inside the package to a piece of material with an image of a monkey.
“I was like... 'Wow, look at this product.' I immediately took pictures because I was blown away. I couldn't believe this was how they were presenting it,” Spencer said.
She said it's offensive to African Americans, who contribute billions of dollars to the bottom line of Royal Imex, the company that makes the product.
Some of the packages feature other zoo animals, which Spencer said is just as inappropriate.
“I just felt like, for our little girls, we like butterflies and unicorns and ladybugs and stars. Why can't the packaging be presented that way?” Spencer said. “Why does it always have to be associated with monkeys and safaris? That's what I saw as a mother who has a girl.”
Spencer emailed Royal Imex about the product, and News4Jax contacted the company as well.
A company spokesperson said they responded to Spencer, thanking her for “bringing the matter to their attention.”
The spokesperson said it was never the company's intent to offend anyone, chalking the packaging up to its design team, which is made up of people who grew up overseas and had no idea about the negative connotations.
The spokesperson told News4Jax and Spencer that the company halted production of the offending packaging and is working with retailers to see how it can get the products off store shelves.
"The specific beauty supply store you had visited last purchased our kids line over two years ago. We didn't realize that the store still had this line in their inventory. Now that we know, we immediately reached out to them to offer them replacement packaging or a refund for the products," the spokesperson said.
Royal Imex deals with 3,000 retailers across the country, and said it can't control what retailers sell.
“As an African American mother, I want my children to see positive images of themselves. Even if it's on a hair package, and even if it's on a hair bow or T-shirt, it needs to be positive,” Spencer said. “That's how we are going to produce positive adults.”