Paramount Australia is under fire after posting the promo poster for the upcoming Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The controversial image posted on their social media outlets eerily resembled the World Trade Center attacks in New York City 13 years ago. It illustrates the four Ninja Turtles falling from an exploding skyscraper, with a set Australian release date in fine print for none other than September 11.
Social media users quickly lashed out at the insensitivity and lack of proofing from the studio, claiming that the artwork in combination with the release date was highly offensive. Many voiced their anger, with some commenting “WOW. Someone’s getting fired for this,” “Nice PR fail by Paramount Australia,” and “That appears to be in bad taste.”
It wasn’t long before Paramount Australia promptly removed the poster from their Twitter and Facebook pages, and soon after issued the following statement to Buzzfeed:
We are deeply sorry to have used that artwork for the marketing materials promoting the September 11 opening in Australia. Combining that image and date was a mistake. We intended no offense and have taken immediate action to discontinue its use.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will star Megan Fox, Alan Ritchson, Johnny Knoxville, Noel Fisher, and Jeremy Howard. It is set to release in the US August 8, 2014.
