H&M;Gisele Bundchen Ads Censored in Dubai

siofan

on Mar 22, 2011 @ 11:29 am

H&M;'s new campaign featuring Gisele Bundchen has been censored in Dubai and other Gulf regions (side by side comparisons can be found here), by digitally inserting a T-shirt under the clothes.

Do you think that it is a brand's responsibility to shoot separate campaigns to reflect a market's cultures and religions mores, or should it be up to the country to alter the images to their beliefs?

via vogue.co.uk

Digitally altered at left, the original at right.

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dolce_bellissima 4,164	depends on Mar 22, 2011 @ 11:32 am In some cases, I think it is the brands responsibility to change their marketing/ad standards to the country they are marketing in. However, in this particular case, I feel like it is such a small change, that it shouldn't be a big issue. If it was a more controversial pose/outfit, and could be marketed in Europe, it would be responsible for the brand to make very different images for Arabic countries for instance.
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laurenblair 78	You've gotta know your audience on Mar 22, 2011 @ 11:38 am I would say in most cases it's the brands responsibility. You need to be aware of the market you are trying to reach and how they will react to your message. However, I'm not sure H&M;would have thought the original image would cause any problems. Gisele isn't posing very provocatively or bearing more than her arms, so in this case I think it was appropriate that it was the country made the changes.
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