Richa Gangopadhyay Instagram – I received a couple of responses from Lululemon regarding acknowledging the inappropriate use of the word “Namaste” on their underwear products. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ While recognizing the mistake is a good first step, we hope they actually implement the change and walk the walk, sooner than later. Large companies like this need to work on upping their diversity efforts from within. ⁣⁣⁣ As @vaani.kc pointed out (where I learned about this first), the fact that not a single person thought there was a problem through multiple stages of review-through creation, design, marketing or sales- is a clear indication that the wider issue that needs to be addressed is the lack of diversity. It really shouldn’t be up to the general public to expend their energy to call out such things to protect their cultural identities. It would save a lot of time and energy if employees at these companies recognized cultural appropriation and offensive use of foreign words to stop such things from happening in its tracks in the initial stages. ⁣⁣This goes for all cultures as well, not just my own.⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ ****************************⁣⁣ @lululemon , thank you for taking the first step by acknowledging your oversight. I, along with 1.3 billion other Indians, would appreciate your prompt response through your actions. Going forward, we expect you to thoroughly research the history and significance of words and ideas borrowed from other cultures before labeling your products. We need to be prioritizing people’s feelings and respecting cultural sensitivities, not just think about what might be considered “trendy”. Thank you. ⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ #mycultureisnotatrend #culturalapproproation #knowbetterdobetter #namaste⁣⁣