Netflix movie poster for French film Cuties slammed online with critics saying it ‘sexualises children’

Netflix has apologised after a poster promoting a film about child dancers was criticised for sexualising children.

The streaming giant was forced to back-track after advertising for the French film Cuties showed young girls posing ‘provocatively’ in dance outfits.

Originally titles Mignonnes, the film follows 11-year-old Amy (Fathia Youssouf), who rebels against her family and joins a “free-spirited dance crew” and “starts to explore her femininity.”

It is due to be released on Netflix on September 9.

While the film has favourable reviews—it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance earlier this year—Netflix’s take on advertising the film was in stark contrast to how it was originally marketed.

The original poster showed four girls running down a street celebrating, while the one that drew the ire of thousands showed some of the young girls in sexually provocative poses.

It has a rating of 82 per cent on film and television review website Rotten Tomatoes.

But, Netflix’s poster quickly drew criticism online when it was released and has lead to thousands of people signing an online petition—named “Petition to Remove Cuties From Netflix”—calling for the film to be banned from the streaming service.

“This movie/show is disgusting as it sexualizes an ELEVEN year old for the viewing pleasure of pedophiles and also negatively influences our children! There is no need for this kind of content in that age group, especially when sex trafficking and pedophilia are so rampant! There is no excuse, this is dangerous content,” it states.

More than 135,000 people have signed it.

Since the backlash, Netflix has since taken down the artwork and replaced it, whilst also issuing an apology on Twitter.

“We’re deeply sorry for the inappropriate artwork that we used for Cuties. It was not OK, nor was it representative of this French film which premiered at Sundance. We’ve now updated the pictures and description.”