Netflix has apologised after a film poster featured on its site was accused of sexualising children. The streaming giant has now altered the pictures and description for Cuties, a new drama directed by Maimouna Doucouré. The French film depicts an 11-year-old girl who joins a dance group, and it explores the idea of young girls imitating sexualised imagery without understanding what it means and how dangerous this can be. But the poster sparked a petition after it was accused of "sexualising an 11-year-old for the viewing pleasure of paedophiles", and garnered 25,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
The poster originally showed a dance troupe of young girls in skimpy clothing and sexualised poses. Netflix apologised in a tweet and said the original poster did not accurately represent the film. “We're deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Mignonnes/Cuties," the tweet read.