A British supermarket store was forced to apologize over a “12 Years a Slave” display with a mannequin dressed to look like protagonist Solomon Northup.
The mannequin was wearing a torn shirt and pants, similar to the clothing worn by Chiwetel Ejiofor in his portrayal of Northup. There was even a twig sticking out of the mannequin’s pants pocket at a Sainsbury’s branch in Oxford. Bright stickers to promote the movie’s DVD and Blu-ray release were all over the display, including the mannequin.
Also read: Oscar Winner ’12 Years a Slave’ Spikes 75 Percent at Overseas Box Office
The display has since been removed and the store issued an apology. “We can only apologise,” Sainsbury’s said in a statement. “It’s been taken down from the Heyford Hill store and clearly should never have gone up in the first place.”
Sainsbury’s is the second largest supermarket chain in the U.K. The display started gaining attention after a shopper took a picture of the unusual marketing and posted it to Twitter.