An incident at an Australian Apple Store the other day has many people very upset with Apple and CEO Tim Cook has finally commented on the incident. It appears employees of the Apple Store, in this Australian location, may have done a bit of racial profiling of a group of black students asking them to leave the store. The video of part of the incident made it to YouTube but we don’t know the backstory of how it even got to that point. In the video you can hear an Apple employee telling the teens there was “concern you might steal something” but the twenty second clip offers little else. Take a look below.
https://youtu.be/EOiF_VzMvDk
Whatever happened prior to the recorded incident has been pretty much nullified by Apple CEO Tim Cook as he sent an email out to all employees addressing the incident. Cook stated the Apple Store employees behavior was unacceptable and was disappointed employees acted in such a manner.
“Our stores and our hearts are open to people from all walks of life, regardless of race or religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or point of view.” He also stated that it is Apple’s policy to embrace cultural differences, as it helps deliver better products.
The local stores senior manager has contacted the teens in question and personally apologized to the teens and their families, which the teens have graciously accepted. You can read Tim Cook’s entire email below. Let us know in the comments section what you think of this incident and Apple’s reaction to it.
[button link=”http://www.bidnessetc.com/57515-apple-is-not-racist-tim-cooks-take-on-the-incident-in-australia/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Bidness ETC[/button] [button link=”http://www.buzzfeed.com/brendanklinkenberg/heres-tim-cooks-email-about-black-teens-barred-entry-from-ap#.eyvkbbVRyX” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Buzzfeed[/button]Subject: Apple is open
Team,
I’m sure you are all aware of the unacceptable incident which took place at our store at the Highpoint shopping center in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday. Several young men, who are students at a nearby school, had been asked by a security guard to leave the store. In an attempt to address the situation, one of our store employees gave an answer which shocked many of us.
What people have seen and heard from watching the video on the web does not represent our values. It is not a message we would ever want to deliver to a customer or hear ourselves. Our employee immediately expressed his regret and apologized to the students.
None of us are happy with the way this was handled. But we can all be proud of Kate, one of the senior managers at the Highpoint store.
On Wednesday, she greeted the same group of students to express a heartfelt apology on behalf of our store and our company. She reassured these young men that they and their fellow classmates would always be welcome at our store. The school’s principal later told a reporter that she delivered her message “with good grace,” and one of the students said, “It feels like we have justice now.”
Her words that day echoed a message you’ve heard many times from me and from Angela. It’s a simple pledge we all make to our customers and to ourselves:
Apple is open.
Our stores and our hearts are open to people from all walks of life, regardless of race or religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, disability, income, language or point of view. All across our company, being inclusive and embracing our differences makes our products better and our stores stronger.
The Apple Store Highpoint is staffed by people who share these values and illustrate our commitment to diversity. The team is made up of coworkers from Australia, as well as Egypt, Italy, India and five other nations. Collectively they speak 15 languages, including Urdu, Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin.
While I firmly believe that this was an isolated incident rather than a symptom of a broader problem in our stores, we will use this moment as an opportunity to learn and grow. Our store leadership teams around the world, starting in Australia, will be refreshing their training on inclusion and customer engagement. These are concepts and practices they know well, but can always stand to reinforce.
Respect for our customers is the foundation of everything we do at Apple. It’s the reason we put so much care into the design of our products. It’s the reason we make our stores beautiful and inviting, and extend their reach to benefit the communities around them. It’s the reason we commit ourselves to enriching people’s lives.
Thank you all for your dedication to Apple, to our values, and to the customers we are so very fortunate to serve.
Tim
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
