SOMERSET, UK (CelebrityAccess) — Organizers for the Glastonbury Festival have put the kibosh on the sale of Native American headdresses at the event following an appeal made via a Change.org petition.
The petition called for the festival to block vendors from selling the headwear, complaining that it was an "offensive and disrespectful" form of cultural appropriation that perpetuates "damaging and archaic" racist stereotypes. While the petition attracted less than 100 signatures, festival organizers apparently found the argument to be sufficiently compelling to implement the ban.
A spokesman for the festival told the International Business Times that the decision was based less on the petition than the already established festival guidelines.
"The wording on our guidelines is very clear," The spokesman told IBT. "There are a broad range issues to consider for anyone who applies to be a market trader, such as safety, before we decide if the product is appropriate to sell.
"We have guidelines about what we consider ethical and it is important to show there is an ideology behind our decisions and that it is not just a first come first serve basis.
"These ethical guidelines are something we place throughout the whole festival and feel we must also plant the seed of ideology in something as mundane as markets." – Staff Writers
