'Real Housewives of Atlanta' 'Black Wives Matter' promo poster riles some

Credit: Rodney Ho

Credit: Rodney Ho

By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed January 27, 2015

A reader named Gertrude sent us a photo of a promotional poster above, which plays off the civil rights slogan "Black Lives Matter," upset by its content given that it's promoting "Real Housewives of Atlanta."

Then we received a note today from the design company that made the posters, disavowing them:

We are deeply sorry for propagating social injustice and pain in America. We are coming out about this because it has conflicted with our morals as a multi-racial design team. Major corporations and celebrities continue to exploit our culture for economic gain and as designers need to begin to stand our ground.

Unfortunately through the Atlanta team's manipulation techniques they are attempting to gain recognition through controversy and we feel this is immoral. This must stop NOW. Bravo and their affiliates must be held accountable because they continue to promote bad role models and distract our culture of the critical issues facing our country.

To prove it was us we attached the original .PSD file with all the separate image layers. The posters were sent early Jan to a PO box in Atlanta. We do not know who put them up or where but we sent 50 total. We are trying to stop the rest from being put up. We are deeply sorry to anyone this hurt or angered. Again, we cannot apologize enough for allowing this period of cultural havoc to break down our already fragile society.

Sincerely,

Jamal J, Shannon G and Seoyeon M