MTR orders safety warning on advertising poster for new Madonna album
A poster advertising pop star Madonna's latest album faced being banned from MTR stations over fears that children would injure themselves by copying the superstar's pose, her record said.
A poster advertising pop star Madonna's latest album faced being banned from MTR stations over fears that children would injure themselves by copying the superstar's pose, her record label has revealed.
A spokeswoman from Universal Music Hong Kong said that one of two posters submitted to the MTR for display faced being rejected unless a warning was added.
The image shows Madonna's face bound with black leather string. The MTR feared that children who copied the pop star faced a risk of strangulation.
The other poster which was given the green light, the spokeswoman said, depicts the 56-year-old pop queen wearing a red top over what appears to be a one-piece leopard-pattern swimsuit.
”We were told to only use the one with her lying on the floor. But we wanted to use both [of them],” the record company spokeswoman told the
The source said the record label was told by the third-party advertising agency they hired to place the advert that the MTR raised concerns as the image might encourage children to imitate it, posing a health risk.
The MTR said their adverts were handled by advertising firm JCDecaux, which confirmed that it had dealt with the record label's advert through the third-party agency
After negotiations, it was suggested that the record label add the warning: “This is just an art photo. Please do not imitate” to the poster as a solution, which it accepted.
The poster will be displayed at MTR stations from Saturday, following the Hong Kong launch of the artist’s latest 19-track album Rebel Heart earlier this week.
It is not the first time Madonna's tangle-face imagery has caused controversy. Earlier this year, the singer drew fire for superimposing the same tangled-string motif on photos of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela and posting them on her Twitter account.
Detractors criticised her lack of taste and accused her of racism for using images of prominent rights leaders to promote her pop music.
Madonna later apologised by posting a statement on her Facebook page. “I’m sorry. I’m not comparing myself to anyone,” she said.
“I’m admiring and acknowledging there [sic] Rebel Hearts. This is neither a crime or an insult or racist,” she added.
