Vogue Brazil under fire for turning models into amputees to trumpet Rio 2016 Paralympics
A Vogue Brazil campaign to boost interest in the upcoming Paralympic Games has come under fire for altering images of able-bodied models to give them disabilities.
Vogue Brazil under fire for turning models into amputees to trumpet Rio 2016 Paralympics.
The advert featured Brazilian actors Cleo Pires and Paulo Vilhena under the strapline “We are all Paralympians”. Both were photoshopped to feature the disabilities of Pralympic table tennis player Bruna Alexandre, who had her right arm amputated when she was just three months old and sitting volleyball player Renato Leite, who has a prosthetic leg.
Readers of the magazine have slammed the decision to digitally-alter the images of the able-bodied models in place of the actual Olympians.
.@VogueBRoficial, this is a mess. Want to send a positive message about disability & the Paralympics? Show respect. https://t.co/rdyLALD6pK
— Emily Ladau (@emily_ladau) 26 August 2016
Rio #Paralympics continues to be trash. cannot stand this horrendous "we are all human" rhetoric. https://t.co/3TFbMhLAaf — zara sirelkhatim (@oblivioncomplex) 25 August 2016
Even though there are models with those very disabilities @vogue could've featured, they've modeled together too. pic.twitter.com/q7jTCJysTZ
— Beth Elderkin (@BethElderkin) August 24, 2016
Despite the criticism, Vogue Brazil has said it was for a “good cause” given it’s raising awareness for an event that has struggled to sell tickets.
Just 20 per cent of tickets have been sold for the games so far, though the fact that the largest number of Paralympic tickets ever sold in one day last Tuesday (23 August) – 133,000 – has given organisers encouragement it will be a successful event. This comes after the International Paralympic Committee admitted that major budget cuts will be made to the event’s venues, workforce and transport.