Excitement over Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs, an upcoming animated film starring Chloë Grace Moretz, has been dwarfed by its tone-deaf marketing campaign. Many, including body-positive model and activist Tess Holliday, have spoken out against the Snow White parody’s body shaming promo poster. Originally displayed during the Cannes Film Festival, the ad showed a tall, slender brunette next to a curvier, shorter version of the same character with the tagline, “What if Snow White was no longer beautiful and the 7 Dwarfs not so short?” (Cringe.)
“How did this get approved by an entire marketing team? Why is it okay to tell young kids being fat = ugly?” Holliday tweeted on Tuesday, tagging Moretz. The actress, known for her progressive political views, was quick to denounce the ill-conceived ad. “I am just as appalled and angry as everyone else, this wasn’t approved by me or my team,” Moretz affirmed via Twitter, adding that she’s now “fully reviewed” the film’s marketing campaign. (Both the poster and the film’s online trailer have since been pulled.)
I have now fully reviewed the mkting for Red Shoes, I am just as appalled and angry as everyone else, this wasn’t approved by me or my team
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) May 31, 2017
Pls know I have let the producers of the film know. I lent my voice to a beautiful script that I hope you will all see in its entirety https://t.co/IOIXYZTc3g
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) May 31, 2017
The actual story is powerful for young women and resonated with me. I am sorry for the offense that was beyond my creative control https://t.co/HZP2ydPCAX
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) May 31, 2017
Moretz holds that, in spite of this marketing blunder, the family comedy has an empowering message for young women. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sujin Wang, one of the film’s producers, echoed Moretz’s sentiments.
“Our film, a family comedy, carries a message designed to challenge social prejudices related to standards of physical beauty in society by emphasizing the importance of inner beauty,” Wang stated. “We appreciate and are grateful for the constructive criticism of those who brought this to our attention. We sincerely regret any embarrassment or dissatisfaction this mistaken advertising has caused to any of the individual artists or companies involved with the production or future distribution of our film, none of whom had any involvement with creating or approving the now discontinued advertising campaign.”
Red Shoes & the 7 Dwarfs tells the story of seven handsome princes who’ve been transformed into dwarfs and are now on a quest to find a pair of magical red shoes that’ll break the curse and return them to their normal state. However, the princess who owns the shoes doesn’t want to give them up because they transform her into a slimmer, taller version of herself. As the Cut points out, the premise sounds a whole lot like “Fiona’s journey in Shrek, but without the green skin.” Moretz promises the script is “beautiful,” and we’re here for any film that puts princes in heels, but this fail of an ad campaign does not inspire confidence that Locus (the South Korean studio behind the film) knows how to communicate its message of self-love in a responsible, coherent way.
[ via the Cut ]
