Alo Yoga Urged to Investigate Customers Receiving Packages With Anti-Israel, Anti-Jewish Messages

Shiryn Ghermezian

An Alo Yoga store under renovation at K11 Musea in Hong Kong, China. Photo: SCMP via Reuters Connect

The Jewish advocacy group StandWithUs has called on the American athleisure brand Alo Yoga to publicly condemn antisemitism and investigate how some customers received packages containing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages.

“No customer should face discrimination or hate because of their identity or nationality. We are calling on Alo Yoga to investigate this incident, condemn antisemitism clearly and publicly, and ensure this never happens again,” StandWithUs said in a statement.

The Jewish group also asked supporters to send “a respectful direct message” to the privately-owned company on Instagram and demand the brand take “accountability,” address the reported incidents, and condemn antisemitism.
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Earlier in May, the Israeli publication Ynet spoke with two Alo Yoga customers in Israel who ordered items from the brand’s official website. Instead of receiving a mailed package with their purchased products, the shipments included hateful messages. Both customers said their orders were placed through the brand’s US website but physically shipped from Alo Yoga Canada.

One customer said her package did not include the items she ordered and was instead full of torn cardboard and papers, and an empty plastic bag used to wrap clothing. She shared photos of her printed order summary that was inside the package, showing someone had handwritten “Free Palestine,” “Hamas will win,” and “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].” Someone had also drawn an inverted red triangle, which has been used to symbolize support for violent Palestinian “resistance” against Israel. The symbol first appeared in propaganda videos from the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

“The bag was sealed — the shipment arrived intact, and I opened the folds myself, so it would appear that this had to have happened at the company itself,” the customer told Ynet. “All the junk inside — the cardboard, the bags — was also all from Alo Yoga.”

The shopper said after she contacted customer service through the Al Yoga chat and uploaded a photo of the package, the chat blocked her.

A second Israeli Alo Yoga customer told Ynet the package she received did not contain her purchased items but just a order slip with the handwritten messages “Free Palestine,” “Victory to Hamas,” “From the river to the sea,” and “Death, death to the IDF.”

“I contacted Alo Yoga, and the moment I sent a photo, the chat closed,” she told the publication. “But I am very persistent, so I opened another chat, and another chat, and another chat, until the bot transferred me to a representative. I started corresponding with her. I told her, ‘This is incitement, this person knows my address,’ and she said, ‘I’m very sorry, I’m transferring this to the department that handles this.’ I gave her my email. Now the ball is in Alo Yog’’s court. They need to get back to me and say what they are going to do.”

Alo Yoga did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment.