BREAKING NEWS: ‘Pornographic’ Breitling shop display in Kent shopping centre bombs
Andrew McUtchenA Breitling shop display in Kent’s Bluewater shopping district has bombed, with a local parish councillor, Kirsty Russell, 42, starting a petition on Change.org to have it removed. “Breitling sells watches, not underwear,” Russell writes. “I was told, when I complained to the shop, that it was all about their ‘proud heritage as a brand linked with aviation history’.”
The mannequin in the display is, and I’ll quote the Daily Mail here because this prose cannot be bettered, “a pneumatic figure with blonde hair and a capacious bust that strains against her top. [She] sits astride a missile.” Tally ho.
To date, 489 people have signed the petition, but the feedback in the comments section is mixed. One supporter writes, “I am signing this petition to highlight how absurd it is. I must have missed the petition when H&M was covered with photos of David Beckham in his underwear, and when M&S has topless photos of David Gandy in store.” It seems an unintended coincidence that this commenter’s example, David Beckham, is also a Breitling ambassador.
Russell, who is leading the charge to have the mannequin either more amply dressed, or removed altogether, opines on her petition blurb that “Breitling must have lost confidence in the quality of their watches to sell themselves and have stooped to this.”
When quizzed on what she’d prefer the mannequin to be replaced with, Russell suggested “Just a simple, unadorned aeroplane. I am sure this is possible. Or scale up the inner mechanical workings of your watch into a fascinating moving art installation.” Updates to follow.
