Supermarket Display Shows How You Can Get That Chic Slave Look From “12 Years A Slave”

It’s pretty common to be watching a TV show or movie and say to yourself, “I really like that outfit. Wonder where I could purchase it.” But that’s probably not what most people were thinking when watching the harrowing Best Picture-winning 12 Years a Slave; a fact that seemed to have been overlooked by the operators of one U.K. supermarket.

The Independent reports that the above promotional display was spotted at a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Oxford, complete with DVDs, Blu-Rays and a headless mannequin modeling a tattered slave-like outfit similar to the one featured on the DVD cover — and complete with a twig shoved in its pocket for extra authenticity.

Granted, the movie was nominated for Best Achievement in Costume Design, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to dress like the characters in the film.

Thankfully, it looks like the outfit was not for sale, in spite of a price tag placed dead center of the mannequin’s bared chest, which makes it even more curious why the store would possibly have thought this was a good idea. If you’re going to have the slaved-up mannequin on display, you might as well tell people how they, too, can dress in a way that mocks and minimizes an extremely painful, divisive, bloody and shameful era in the history of humankind.

“We can only apologise,” a rep for the supermarket chain tells the Independent. “It’s been taken down from the Heyford Hill store and clearly should never have gone up in the first place.”

Thanks to E.R.M. for the tip!

by Chris Morran via Consumerist