TORONTO -- Athletic apparel retailer Lululemon is facing criticism after promoting a “decolonizing gender” workshop that included themes of anti-capitalism, prompting backlash from social media users who called the workshop ironic.
The Vancouver-based company promoted the workshop, which was to be hosted by an ambassador of the brand, on Instagram.
However, social media users were quick to point out the irony of a multi-million-dollar company whose leggings retail for up to $168 promoting an event aimed at "resisting capitalism."
The workshop, hosted by yoga instructor Rebby Kern, intended to focus on themes of gender stereotypes, colonialism and consumerism, according to Kern’s social media post about the event.
A Twitter account under the name “Woke Capital” shared the since-deleted post to the social media website, where it was met with backlash from other Twitter users.
A spokesperson for the company said the post did not represent the company’s views and has since been removed.
“We recently shared on our social channels an upcoming event organized by one of our ambassadors. This is not a lululemon forum and it does not represent the company’s views. We have since removed the post,” a spokesperson said in an email sent to CTVNews.ca
Earlier this year the company came under fire after an employee promoted a t-shirt, not sold by Lululemon, that promoted racist stereotypes against Chinese people amid the global pandemic.
