In iconic Delacroix painting, art lovers see a masterpiece. France sees liberty. Facebook sees nipples
Facebook has apologised after banning an advertisement featuring Eugene Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’, because of its bare-breasted heroine
Facebook admitted on Sunday making a mistake after it banned an advert featuring French artist Eugene Delacroix’s famous work, “Liberty Leading the People,” because it depicts a bare-breasted woman.
The 19th-century masterpiece was featured in an online campaign for a play showing in Paris when it was blocked on the social networking site this week, the play’s director Jocelyn Fiorina said.
“A quarter of an hour after the advert was launched, it was blocked, with the company telling us we cannot show nudity,” Fiorina said.
He then posted a new advert with the same painting with the woman’s breasts covered with a banner saying “censored by Facebook”, which was not banned.
A quarter of an hour after the advert was launched, it was blocked, with the company telling us we cannot show nudity
Delacroix’s flag-waving subject, topless and with her faint nipples exposed, is not just any woman – she’s Marianne, a national symbol of the French Republic.