Race row over COUPLES RETREAT U.K. poster
Much ado about nothing as the omission of the two black actors from Universal's UK poster campaign sparks "controversy".
Much ado about nothing. From The Daily Mail...
Advertisement
The makers of a hit Hollywood film are at the centre of a race controversy after removing two black actors from a poster being used to promote it in Britain. The American advert for Couples Retreat, a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Kristin Davis, show all eight principal actors six of whom are white and two black.Hollywood Elsewhere, who directed me to this piece, have posted an image of the two posters side by side, with a big arrow showing Faizon Love and Kali Hawk, the two black actors in the picture. Oh and before that... hands up anyone in the U.K. who know who Faizon Love and/or Kali Hawk are without having to check IMDB (or I bet in some cases, even after checking IMDB)? I thought not.
Yes that is them, honest! You just might need the old magnifying glass to see them but there they are, on the right hand side... way, way, way in the background.
The deep in the ocean image of the pair from the U.S. poster is almost as bad as a complete omission, no? Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch-UK got on her high-horse and said...I think this was an ill-conceived move. We celebrate diversity in Britain and we could have coped with seeing the same poster used in America.We all know what's happened here and it's strictly nothing to do with racism. This is simply a case of the old Hollywood star system. The U.K. poster (wisely) promotes the six actors you will all recognise and who attract more people into the theatres and is definitely easier on the eye. The U.S. one, with the two extra actors makes it look cluttered and messy. The U.K. one is definitely the better poster but I don't believe Universal are playing racists by the marketing. And the decision to scrap the U.K. poster from future international territories, I believe, is more to stop the agro than an admission of guilt, because really, they have nothing to be guilty about...
"A Universal spokesman said the revised advert aimed to simplify the poster to actors who are most recognisable in international markets".