Urban Outfitters apologizes to Hindus for Lord Ganesh socks

American lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters has removed all socks

that bear the image of the Indian deity Lord Ganesh and apologized to Hindu statesman Rajan Zed in an email, after a series of protests against the 'inappropriate' sale of the socks.

Zed, who prompted the protests against the socks, argued that Lord Ganesh is highly revered in Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion in the world, and symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be misused. He added that “inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay, as it hurt the devotees”.

Public relations manager of Urban Outfitters, Crystal Carroll, wrote an email to Zed saying: “We sincerely apologize if we offended the Hindu community and our customers. We appreciate Rajan Zed and the Universal Society of Hinduism for bringing this matter to our attention and for helping us understand the cultural and religious sensitivities this product carries. We will remove the Ganesh Socks immediately from our website and stores.”

In a statement today, Zed thanked Urban Outfitters for their apology and understanding the immediate concerns of the Hindu community. He also suggested that the company may send their senior executives to cultural and religious sensitivity training, so they have a greater understanding of certain communities when launch new products or campaigns.

The socks in question were a crew-length cotton pair that featured an image of Lord Ganesh near the top and sold for 8 dollars. Zed argued that Lord Ganesh is worshiped as the god of wisdom and his image “not to be wrapped around one's foot”. Urban Outfitters currently offers other apparel items online that feature an interpretation of Lord Ganesh, including T-shirts and sweatshirts for women.