Earlier this year, in August 2023, there was outrage about an image that was hanging in behind the counter of a longstanding high street shop in Cobham. Farrant’s had been a staple of Cobham’s high street ever since it opened in 1896 and is frequently visited by members of the Cobham community. However, the picture that took pride of place residing behind the till, caused an outrage with citizens and visitors alike, gaining major traction and drawing the attention of many celebrities.
The high street shop came under fire after Misan Harriman, chairman of London’s Southbank Centre as well as being a photographer and an ambassador of Save the Children UK. Mr Harriman initially brought the problem to light after posting a video on X, formerly Twitter, stating: “I saw the most triggering thing. I’ve just come in to try and get toys for my girls, and I just saw the most incredibly triggering imagery. Luckily my children aren’t with me.” He goes on to say that “This shop in the middle of a Surry high street thinks it’s normal to have that type of imagery next to where I could go and buy toys for my children.” However, this is not the first time that this issue has been addressed. Ex Netherlands and Chelsea star Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink complained in 2022 about the picture, depicting black males working in field overseen by white men. Hasselbaink was reportedly told by the store that the image would be replaced, but it was not the case. He took to Instagram to write “Stories come and go. This needs some attention, I think it’s time you followed through on your word from 2020 and replaced this image.”
Since then, the shop has removed the image, issuing an apology on Instagram that reads “The image that has caused offence has been removed. We apologise unreservedly for any and all distress that it caused”. The main question that remains is how for many people, this picture went unnoticed, or if it was noticed, why was nothing done about it? Was it viewed as a non-discriminatory image? The fact is that should anything like this ever happen again, it shouldn’t take multiple attempts and at least 3 years to resolve the problem.
