AFRICANGLOBE – British supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has come under fire after a local store showed shoppers how to dress like a slave.
The branch embellished its DVD and Blu-ray display for Steve McQueen’s Oscar-Winning drama 12 Years A Slave with a mannequin dressed in a similar outfit to that of the main character Solomon Northup
Perched alongside the DVDs, the dummy was draped in a loose-fitting, holey grey jumper and black cropped trousers.
Completing slave-inspired look of desperation, the mannequin had a twig in its front pocket.
The ragged clothes did not appear to be on sale; however there was a tag around the dummy’s neck showing the price of the recently-released home movie.
A picture of the display was taken and uploaded to Twitter on Monday morning (May 19) by shopper John Sargent.
He tweeted: “If you are a slave to fashion – @SainsburysPR has it covered suggest @SainsburysPR you get on to this rather quick.”
By the afternoon the picture had gone viral, leading to a swift apology by the supermarket chain.
“We can only apologise. It’s been taken down from the store. Clearly should never have gone up.”
The display has now been taken down.
