IT WAS a shopping trip that 41-year-old marketing executive Tina* had been looking forward to for some time.
After landing a new job she needed several new work outfit and headed in to one of her favourite London stores.
However, her experience in the store left her shaken. “I’d only begun looking at some suits when I noticed a security guard looking at me intently” she recalls.
“When I looked back to him I noticed his eyes glanced towards my bag. I immediately made the connection to race. He clearly thought I was going to steal something. I wasn’t the only person in that section of the shop but I was the only black woman.
“I put the items I was trying on back on the rack, tried to shrug it off and moved to another part of the store and he followed me. By now I could feel my anger rising. For a moment I thought of heading straight to customer service and asking for the manager. But, as I was starting a new job in a few days I didn’t want the negative energy of this experience to be uppermost in my mind so I decided to just walk out of the store.
“I was really shocked and disgusted and I’ve decided never to shop at that store again. I won’t even buy anything from its online store.”
Sadly Tina’s experience of being followed and scrutinised by security guards while shoppjng is not uncommon.
It’s so prevalent that the phrase called psychological passing has been used to describe it.
The recently published landmark Black Pound Report 2022, found that ‘multi-ethnic’ consumers, (the term it uses to describe people from black, Asian, and other ethnic groups)’ defined it as the desire to change and adapt appearance or behaviour to ‘fit in,’ and avoid being racially profiled by security officers and shop workers.
This was shown to be a significant problem in retail environments, according to the survey. To be socially accepted, 13 percent of respondents said they had consciously changed their appearance, while 12 percent said they had changed their speech.
This was despite the fact that the research revealed that multi-ethnic consumers are a growing economic force with an annual disposable income of £4.5 billion and £1 billion for black people alone.
When faced with discriminatory treatment, many respondents adopted non-confrontational strategies, such as leaving the store and refusing to buy anything.
Psychological passing is one response to an issue which has been described in the United States as ‘shopping while black’.
Shopping while black can include everything from followed by security guards as Tina was, being detained and questioned after making a purchase, being handcuffed on suspicion of shoplifting or being ignored in favour of a white customer.
The issue received worldwide attention in 2019 when chart-topping singer SZA said she was racially profiled at a Los Angeles branch of beauty chain Sephora.
The I Hate U hitmaker, who said she has previously worked at Sephora, shared her experience on Twitter, revealing that an employee named “Sandy” called security believing she had stolen from the store.
In response, Sephora closed all its US stores for one morning to hold diversity training for the company’s 16,000 employees.
Lydia Amoah, CEO and Founder of BACKLIGHT, the consultancy that produced the Black Pound Report 2022 said she hoped it would provide important insights to help businesses, and retail outlets in particular, take action on an issue that often leaves those affected by it aggrieved, offended and frustrated.
“The research told us that people of all ethnic backgrounds engage in psychological passing, however, there is a high percentage propensity of consumer from black, Asian and multi-ethnic backgrounds to adopt this behaviour” she tells The Voice. “What happens is there is an adjustment or behaviour change as soon as they walk into the store. It’s almost like a performance as if to say “Yes, I’m here, I’ve arrived, and I’m making it so clear that I’m in your store so please don’t profile me or target me a someone who’s going to steal from your store because if how you judge my background.”
It’s an issue that Amoah has experienced herself.
“Once I was out shopping just happily just picking up things and putting them in my basket” she recalls. “But then I changed my mind about some of the items. So I was putting stuff from my basket back onto the shelf, as shoppers do when they change their minds.
“As I was doing this I noticed a security guard had walked up and down the aisle I was in quite a few times. I just dismissed it. But when I went to another aisle, the same person was there again. Another shopper realised that this person was observing me and following me around the store. As I was leaving this particular person was at the door.”
She continues: “I didn’t look at him. But the fact that I’d bought these items was me making a statement to say ‘Look, I’ve bought something. You didn’t really need to do that.”
Although not her first experience of being discriminated against in a retail environment it did fire her determination to raise awareness of the issue.
“I want to feel valued as a consumer. I don’t want to feel on edge when I come to a shop wherever I decide to use my disposable income. I want to be treated well” she says.
“I would like retailers and businesses to be able to look at people as individuals and train their staff to see that each person has their own background, culture and beliefs. And if you want their business, you have to have a heart for people and treat them well.”
I believe that what we need are stronger laws
Lydia Amoah, CEO of Backlight
Amoah continues: “It’s not the best idea to profile people. Obviously, if you see something happening in the shop that shouldn’t be you have to pay attention to. Nobody’s saying that you’re not supposed to do that. But I will say that it’s highly important to treat each individual well, understand their concerns, and serve them well.”
According to the 2010 Equalities Act It is illegal for anyone providing goods, facilities or services in the UK to discriminate because of race.
Under the Act someone providing goods, facilities or services must not: refuse to provide you with goods, facilities or services because of your race or provide any of these things on less favourable terms or conditions because of your race.
This means you can take action in the civil courts. However a spokesperson from Citizens Advice said: “If you want to take action about discrimination you need to be reasonably sure unlawful discrimination has taken place according to the Act.”
A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that “our members are aware of the issue and are working to remove instore bias as well as work internally to make the workplace more inclusive through impetuses such as our Diversity and Inclusion Charter.”
Amoah is unequivocal about one way the situation can be addressed.
“I believe that what we need are stronger laws” she says. “I’m really passionate about this because the psychological impact on consumers, who as a result may choose never to return to the store again, or shop online just because it’s easier can be really damaging.
“I want people to walk into stores and feel valued, not to feel afraid about something that has an impact on their mental health. Black, Asian and multi-ethnic consumers have incredible value and have contributed towards the economy over centuries. They’re an audience to be admired and respected. Businesses are beginning to understand this, but there’s still more work to do.”
*not her real name
Comments Form
5 Comments
Hi,
I just wish I had seen this article much sooner.
Currently I’m embroiled in a dispute when the staff of a major UK supermarket profiled me as soon as I entered the store. I was kicked out and banned with no reason given. When I complaied to Head Office, saying it was consumer racial profiling, the response from Head Office was to ban me from all of its stores (about 500) but again no reason given.
I’m keen to hear more racial profiling experiences, so that I can get an idea of the scale of the problem
I am still in dispute with Morrisons supermarket, which claims that one of the reasons I was put under surveillance is because I was in possession of only a few items. Apparently people only use supermarkets for big weekly shopping and therefore someone only wanting a few items is suspicious!
I have a solicitor working on it, but would like to hear from anyone with similar experiences in Morrisons
Dear Jez D, I am currently in a court dispute with Sainsbury’s regarding a racial profiling, harassment and discrimination. I would be grateful if you could respond back to me and if possible I could give you my email address. What solicitors are you using? I am representing myself unfortunately.
Hi, I’m of south Asian origin. I experienced the same thing in London at Furla, London. I was racially profiled by being stalked around the entire shop with the shop assistant being literally 30cm away from me. The minute I noticed I said you and your brand are racist and are racially profiling people and I will never buy anything nor recommend this brand to anyone. Exactly what I did, I went and spent my money at Aspinal instead. Do not recommend any shop that promotes racist behaviour and pass on the word not to shop at these premises. Until there are stricter laws against racial profiling that’s what you can do.
I would like to bring this to somebody’s attention as to what is going on in office stores when you go in as a black person I went into the office store in Ladbroke Grove where I saw two pairs of shoes that I liked I went to the counter and asked the young man is it possible for me to try this shoes and this other pair of shoes on entering the shop I was looked at as if I was not even supposed to be in the store I placed my order for the two shoes that I wanted to try on I sat in the shop for at least half an hour waiting to be served when I was served I was then treated completely different to all the white people who were in the shop I was not allowed to try to pairs of shoes I was only given one foot of shoes they assistance was told not to give me the two pairs of shoes at the same time everybody around me that was why it was trying on both feet so shoes but I was the only one that was not allowed to have both feet of shoes at the same time I find this very hurtful as I had 800 pounds in my bag at the time and plus my credit cards there was no need for me to steal anything from this shop no am I a shop lifter what is going on in the stores of office I don’t know about it needs to be looked into that was that was sometime in may I reported it to office Nothing came out of it I formed the head office not even an apology now we are in July which I went out with my son my little grandson and my cousin we went to office in Westfield where we were treated very rudely I am I picked up from shoes that was on sale which is two pairs of shoes I was not allowed to try both feet or shoes I was also rudely treated in the shop then the manager of the office shop called for security to come and stand inside the shop while we were trying on the shoes I still was not allowed to have both pairs of shoes when their assistant brought the shoes he took away the right foot I said where are you going with the shoes I have two feet and not one he then stormed off and went to the counter where he spoke to the manager I believe it was the manager that call for security to stand outside the door one of them was actually inside the shop I find it’s very embarrassing and humiliating that one should go into a store and have to put up with this kind of behavior office needs to get their priorities right when dealing with black people because when you go into prisons you have black white Indian Chinese all race of people it is not just black people who are thieves and it is very rude for them to behave like that