Shein published a product listing featuring a model image that closely resembled Luigi Mangione, the accused assassin of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson. The listing provoked immediate online derision and concerns about the accused receiving a fair trial. Social users and public figures criticized the juxtaposition and called for legal recourse. Many observers suggested the image may have been generated or altered using AI, prompting consent and misuse questions. Mangione is currently incarcerated and awaiting trial in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Earlier online activity produced chatbots based on Mangione, some advocating further violence against CEOs.
In the roughly eight years since it burst onto the global e-commerce scene, the uber-cheap fast fashion marketplace Shein has been accused of everything from stealing designs and requiring exploitatively grueling shifts to forcing China's Uyghur minority to work at its facilities, and even working with suppliers that used child labor. Now, the Chinese-founded and Singapore-based online megaretailer is again under scrutiny due to a product listing whose model looks a lot like Luigi Mangione, the 20-something alleged assassin of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson last December.
First spotted and tweeted out by Pop Crave, a massively popular X account that has become something of a news wire for the social media set, the fast fashion site's use of Mangione's likeness led to immediate derision online. "Seriously," remarked Tarence Ray of the "Trillbillies" podcast in a post on X, "how is this guy supposed to get a fair trial at this point[?]" "Prison industrial complex meets fast fashion industrial complex," bemoaned Megan Hunt, a state senator from Nebraska, in another X post. "So bleak. I hope he sues them."
Beyond the well-deserved chiding, many suggested that the beloved alleged murderer's face had been placed in the ad using AI tech. If that's the case, it unfortunately wouldn't be the first time Mangione's case has intersected with the tech: in the wake of his capture last year, people online began making chatbots based on him, including ones that called for the murder of more CEOs.
Collection
[
|
...
]