A Bakers Delight ad displayed at the Curambine Central Shopping Centre in Perth has been removed after it was called a “porn-inspired abuse scenario” in a furious social media post.
The ad, which was spotted by a campaign manager at Collective Shout, shows two young girls dressed in Santa hats and wrapped in Christmas lights with lemon tarts stuff in their mouths, along with the words “silent nights”.
Collective Shout, a grassroots campaigns movement against the objectification of women and the sexualisation of girls, slammed the campaign for “trivialising the issue of abuse and torture of children”.
Campaign manager Caitlin Roper told Nine.com.au.: “This is a misogynistic, porn-inspired abuse scenario to sell baked goods.
“It’s hard to fathom how anyone at Bakers Delight thought this was acceptable, or that it could be a humorous scenario. How many people signed off on this concept?”
Roper took to Twitter to share the campaign, along with the caption: “Frightened looking tween girls essentially bound and gagged to sell lemon tarts? Is your marketing team made up of misogynists @bakersdelight?”
Frightened looking tween girls essentially bound and gagged to sell lemon tarts? Is your marketing team made up of misogynists @bakersdelight? pic.twitter.com/oWI4TCbnJH
— Caitlin Roper (@caitlin_roper) November 7, 2020
Bakers Delight has since removed the ad and issues an apology, a spokesperson telling Nine: “Trivialising an important issue like child abuse was never our intention and we apologise to anyone we may have inadvertently upset.”
