A billboard for X-Men: Apocalypse, one of summer’s behemoth blockbusters, includes a shot of Oscar Isaac’s character choking Jennifer Lawrence ‘s — and actress Rose McGowan says it’s an example of violence toward women being used to market a product. As you can see from the billboard, it’s not great!
McGowan initially posted about the ad on Facebook, then expanded on her comments to The Hollywood Reporter:
There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?
McGowan is certainly not the only one to take issue with this billboard, with several bloggers and Twitter users expressing their criticisms as well.
Update: Fox released a statement apologizing for the billboard, writing, “In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse, we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women.”
