The Grinch advert shown on the Imax cinema just located off Southbank in London has been accused of being ‘racist’ towards the area of south London.
The 50ft high, 400ft circular poster, that is seen by approximately 3.5 million adults a week, surrounding one half of the famous BFI cinema showcasing the animated remake of the classic Christmas movie has been deemed as being both ‘racist’ and ‘classist’ due to the expression of ‘Welcome to south London. This is your last chance to turn around’, whilst on the opposing side it states ‘You are now heading north of the river. Try to contain your excitement’.
The comments themselves are linked to the characteristics of the well known Grinch due to him being grumpy and pessimistic, however this has caused a stir on Twitter due to the insulting comments on stereotypes that can be allocated with the south of the capital.
Many took to Twitter to let the cinema know their feelings on the poster.
User @JamesAsfa was one of the first to take notice of the poster on social networking, tweeting: “Welcome to South London. This is your last chance to turn around’ Nope. Not finding this funny @BFI Imax Waterloo – snobbery of South London is based on classist and racist stereotypes. Genuinely tried hard not to be a Grinch about this but too much #SouthLondonPride”.
Using the hashtag and the anger of the tweet, as well as over 100 retweets and favourites makes it seem as though there are many in favour of the problematic nature of the poster.
However, famous south London internet comedian Mo Gilligan, quote tweeted Asfa’s tweet with “A Real south London wouldn’t find this offensive. You must be one of them new south Londoners who’s recently moved to South London and gets a coffee in flower pot”.
With Gilligans following and with over 3,000 retweets and favourites deemed it obvious to outsiders that South Londoners are much thicker skinned than to be offended by a poster and has made them stronger than the gentrifiers who “gets a coffee in a flower pot” who have moved to the area in recent years, taking on an alternative view on #SouthLondonPride.
However, Universal have placed ‘offensive’ billboard posters in America as well, such as in New York and Hollywood.
Imax and the BFI are yet to speak about the offence caused by the poster.
