A new advertising campaign in one of Moscow’s stores featuring anthropoid-shaped robots in ambiguous poses has been met with furious protests from a local far-right religious movement.
Moscow’s Central Department Store, also known as TsUM, has surprised its clients and occasional passers-by with a new storefront showcase design.
Not exactly filled with clothing, the windows featured naked robots in poses with obvious sexual references instead, with the whole thing somewhat resembling Björk’s famous All is Full of Love music video, made by Hollywood director Chris Cunningham.
However, the People’s Council, a Moscow-based nationalistic-religious movement, failed to appreciate the cultural link, but noted that many of the mating robot couples had distinctly male features.
In a letter to Moscow’s Prosecutor General Sergey Kudeneev and Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, the group called for the robots to be removed from the showcases, and those who initiated their appearance to be punished.
“Such openly indecent advertising in the center of the Russian capital, which is viewed by not only numerous adults, but also by children, invokes a deep outrage in Muscovites,” the letter said.
On Wednesday the showcases were cleared, with TsUM declining to comment.
This is not the first scandal involving TsUM’s showcases.
In May, a billboard was spotted near TsUM with Russia’s president and prime minister sporting the latest tennis wear.
Though the billboard featured TsUM’s logo, the store denied any involvement in the advertisement.
Back in 2007, they featured a kids-targeted campaign with slogans like “Anyone not in Prada is a loser” or “Everyone is a person as usual, while I wear Burberry”. The store was fined 400,000 rubles (US$13,000) for violating laws on advertising.