French Film Ads with Jean Dujardin Deemed Sexist, Banned

Posters Show 'A Degrading Image of Women,' Say Critics

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Friday, February 03, 2012

Posters for an upcoming French film starring Jean Dujardin have been banned in the country and denounced as sexist.

The advertisements were intended for movie "Les Infideles" and is the source of internet buzz after the French advertising watchdogs began investigating them Tuesday.

The advertising regulator in France, ARPP, said the posters degraded women. Just days after the poster for "Les Infideles" went up to advertise the film about male adultery, the ARPP requested they be removed.

The film's title reads "The Players" in English.

Jean Dujardin , the star actor in "The Artist," is featured in the the first "Les Infideles" advertisement, which shows the actor posed between the legs of an upside-down woman wearing high heels. The caption of the image read, "I'm going into a meeting."

In another poster for the film, Dujardin's co-star Gilles Lellouche poses with a woman facing him at level. With the actor on a phone, the poster's caption includes, "It's going to cut out, I'm going into a tunnel."

The AARP advertising authority said it received four complaints from people offended by the ads. Critics said that the poster depicted women as sexual objects, as reported by the U.K.'s Herald Sun.

The "Les Infideles" poster presented "a degrading image of women, because in both cases you do not see the woman's face … This is certainly presenting an image of women as objects, in this case sexual objects," Stephane Martin, head of AARP, told AFP.

Academy Award-winner Dujardin was famous in France long before he appeared in "The Artist." The actor is now a household name in the U.S. as well after starring in the critically acclaimed black and white film.

The actor is nominated for an Oscar at this year's awards ceremony. French newspapers questioned if the poster for "Les Infideles" could cost the star his Oscar award.

"The Artist" is nominated for an impressive ten Oscar Awards. The ceremony will take place on Feb. 26.